meretricula | Entries tagged with recs

Vid recs again today! I've wanted to do a wordless vid rec post for a while, actually; it's something you don't see all that often but is really impressive when it's done well. (I had to cut down this list to get it to five, actually. :( I would have included more but then it's a slippery slope to indulging my completionist streak all the time!)

Girl on Fire, by Claire [The Hunger Games]
The sense of motion in this vid is really stunning, especially in the more violent interludes. The softer, slower sections are handled impressively, too; Jennifer Lawrence did a great job letting Katniss' facial expressions do her talking, and the vid captures those moments perfectly.

Heads Will Roll, by

thedothatgirl [The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]
The music is actually not the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song of the same name but rather a string quartet cover of 'This Is Halloween', just so you know it does belong on this list. Ichabod's little face! All of his glorious incompetent flailing around! Again, really excellent sense of motion, and the comedic timing is perfect as well.

With Or Without You, by em [Doctor Who]
Nothing in this vid should work. Slowmo, weird color effects, the pacing is just mostly quite slow wih loooong clips. And yet it's perfect. GOD TEN LOVED ROSE SO MUCH, I CAN'T.

Mr. Brightside, by

jarrow [The Talented Mr. Ripley]
Let's put it this way: somehow this movie is EVEN MORE HEARTBREAKING when compressed into three minutes and accompanied by string quartet.

God Loves, Man Kills, by

meivocis [X-Men trilogy]
The X-Men series is really intense for something I remember as a Saturday morning cartoon. I think this vid lives up to that intensity -- the blinking effect seems like it should get annoying, but it really works. (Trigger warning for self-harm of a child and mutilation; the close-up on the stumps where Angel hacked off his wings is... really hard to bear.)

YULETIDE YULETIDE LALALA. At the moment I have nominated Some Girls, Tennis RPF, Blurred Lines Sexy Boys Parody and The Outlaws of Sherwood, but I've got some time in case I want to change my mind...

thefourthvine suggested that I do a set of small fandom recs, but I'm terrible at judging what is or isn't qualified as a "small fandom", so I decided to let the experts sort it out for me and just picked from the Yuletide pool. I tried to get a wide selection, so they're not all from the same year -- one is from 2006, one is from 2012, the rest are somewhere in between!

Wait Wait Don't Eat Me, by

nestra [National Public Radio RPF, Yuletide 2009]
Probably the most (in)famous Yuletide fic of all -- NPR got their hands on it somehow and linked it to the non-fannish masses. At least it wasn't knotting fic, amirite? No, seriously, I do think this is a perfect showcase of what Yuletide is best at: a loving homage to a source that a whole lot of people are familiar with but very, very few would ever contemplate writing fic for.

Gamol-léac, by Castiron [Old Spice Guy commericals, Yuletide Madness 2010]
The concept is great, but it's the execution that really makes it memorable. What a fantastic Beowulf pastiche.

a spring fling, by

screamlet [Avengers RPF, Yuletide 2012]
Everything is ridiculous and yet it's not really a fluffy fic, if that makes sense -- the story is funny, but mostly because it's about perfectly ordinary events that the characters can't really deal with because they aren't used to functioning in the everyday world. (To wit: ScarJo, Chris Evans and Renner live together in collegiate-level filth and attend the birthday party Chris Hemsworth throws for his baby daughter.)

Duende, by

astolat [Master and Commander, Yuletide 2006]
God, I tend to forget this story exists and then I remember and reread it and fall in love all over again. It's a very sweet love story, for Aubrey and Maturin at least, but it's the worldbuilding that gets me every time.

A Room With a View, by hollimichele [Temeraire, Yuletide 2009]
THIS STORY, GOD. Perscitia! Wellington! Roland! All the historical details that don't necessarily appear in the books, up to and including Wellington's poor wife! I love the Temeraire books with a fiery burning passion and I mean it as a great compliment when I say that this fic could perfectly well be an interlude written by Naomi herself.

HEY GUYS BY THE WAY DID YOU KNOW NOMINATIONS OPEN TOMORROW? YEAH. YOU SHOULD ALL GET ON THAT.

For

khoshgeleh_16, who asked for a very carefully curated list of figure skating fics! I, uh, tried? Well, hopefully at least some of it will be suitable. XD Judging from my brief ventures into the shallows, Figure Skating RPF is a fairly compartmentalized fandom -- there's a big section of Weir/Lysacek, a sizeable chunk of Weir/Lambiel, the inevitable Weir/Adam Lambert crossovers and then there's all the other skaters in existence floating around together out in the big blue deep. I think I covered the shallows pretty well back in 2010, although I have to say that my tastes have changed a lot since then and some of the sillier recs are less charmingly ridiculous than they are just plain ridiculous, so take them with a grain of salt. Anyway, that's why there's no Weir/Lysacek and very little Weir/Lambiel here even though that's the majority of the fandom. Variety is the spice of life, etc., and also I didn't want to have to reread all those fics to figure out which of them are actually good if you're not in the flush of new-fandom love.

Hearts Beat Time Out, by

mosca [Johnny Weir/Ben Agosto]
If you like long, plotty fics to help get into a new pairing, start here. If you like short, funny fics to help get into a new pairing, start at the bottom. I feel like this fic is very accessible even though it doesn't really feel like the standard slash fic plot: both POV characters are a little self-contradictory and can alternate between being wishy-washy and being jerks, which is... well, more realistic than the usual Resolute Star-Crossed Lovers schtick. It's a Sexual Awakening Fic but it's not all about homosexual panic, either. Both Tanith and Irina Slutskaya have sizeable roles as well, which I liked. No man is an island, not even drama queen figure skaters!

the badger game, by

jocondite [Evan Lysacek/Jeff Buttle]
Evan wakes up in bed with Adam Rippon. Hilarity (for the rest of the tour, at Evan's expense) ensues.

The Circle of Acceptable Women, by

mosca [Meryl Davis/Tanith Belbin]
Figure Skating RPF: femslash edition! I was talking just the other day with

nahco3 about how female athletes tend to be forcibly closeted less by media hostility and more by the insistence on their invisibility, so it feels very apt to consider a fic speculating about the experiences of Meryl Davis growing up as a very femme lesbian in a sport that polices gender presentation so strictly. Her relationship with Tanith is painted very well but it's almost ancillary, at least to what I get out of the fic.

Nine Lives by anonymous [Stéphane Lambiel/Johnny Weir]
It's a Catwoman AU. Stéphane is Catwoman. It's exactly what you'd expect.

The Advancement of Learning, by

mosca [mostly Johnny Weir and Stéphane Lambiel friendship fic, with a few hints of Johnny Weir/Ben Agosto]
Scenes from the period when Johnny and Stéphane were training at the same rink. It's a really lovely outsider POV and very funny without being crack.

Done with a day of September Recs before noon? Have I been replaced with a pod person? Hmmm.

My parents started discussing politics at dinner so I started drinking a lot of wine so the recs are going to be short tonight. Possibly one-word if I can think of a way to pull that off.

I Want To Be Evil by lithiumdoll [various]
This vid is a m a z i n g. Seriously, I watch it over and over again and it never stops being fantastic. The artistic sense pulling together all the disparate sources -- especially in choosing the themes that keep coming back up, the clapping and the apple and Nimueh -- is extraordinary, which I can recognize even though I honestly don't know who half the "evil women" in the vid are.

The Evil Queen (Ms. Mills if You're Nasty) by

foomatic [Once Upon a Time]
Henry has two moms, the end.

Chain Reaction, by

kuwdora [Xena: Warrior Princess]
Callisto! I have to admit, I never realized the potential for hatesex in this show until this vid pointed it out. (Xena/Gabrielle OTP until the end of time, though. Actually no, Xena/me OTP until the end of time. Lucy Lawless more like Lucy Flawless amirite amirite.)

I Wanna Go, by Milly [Angelina Jolie films]
ANGELINA JOLIE. Such a cool idea for a vid! And it's really well done -- the moment when the music gets muffled right as Angelina goes into a tunnel gets me every time.

Without Me, by

sisabet &

drdawn [Angel]
I. Love. Lilah. Seriously, she was so evil and so HOT. The bit where she's marching out with her evil lawyer cohort at her back... let's just say this vid is pretty old, and I have had it for a very long time on my hard drive, and I still love watching her swagger like it's the first time I'm seeing it.

Again, if you have trouble accessing any of these vids, let me know and I'll upload them for you! I hoard them, because I know they can disappear from the internet with no warning at any time.

More tropes in hockey fandom! I do love me some genderswap.

Des Plus Brillants Exploits, by

twentysomething [Malkin/Crosby]
Girl!Sid and Geno at the Vancouver Olympics. Geno's POV is so sweet and sincere that I feel like it shouldn't work, but it does! And all the Ovechkin cameos are gold. (I know I will get yelled at if I don't mention this caveat -- the descriptions of ice dancing are not correct, but if, like me, you don't know anything about ice dance, I'm guessing it won't bother you much.)

I Don't Think You're Ready, by siegeofangels [Crosby gen]
This is everything I wanted in a gen fic about the possibility of women playing in the NHL. Also, I'm kind of in love with PR Katie.

Shake It, by

hapakitsune [Gallagher/Galchenyuk, Prust/Gallagher/Galchenyuk]
The glorious porn you never knew you wanted about Brandon Prust teaching AGally how to get girl!BGally off. I'm serious. It's glorious.

we set our dreams to carry us, by

mardia [some gen, some Crosby/Malkin, some Staal/Skinner]
AKA the series where Eric Staal is Erica. Ovi cameos continue to be golden! Predictably, I just really want Erica to rob Jeff's cradle blind.

rule 604(a), by puckling [various]
I think this one is very interesting conceptually; it's a series of micro-fics all written around the theme of contraception.

SORRY NOT SORRY ABOUT ALL THE HOCKEY, GUYS.

I loved this movie. I LOVED THIS MOVIE. Explosions! Giant robots! Idris Elba! Raleigh falling all over himself at how awesome Mako is! What is not to love, seriously. (Actually I hated the dudebro scientist, so, that. And obviously Chuck, but we were supposed to hate him, it barely counts. OTHERWISE.) SO GREAT. Have some fic!

those who run with wolves, by epistolic [Kaidonovskys]
One way Sasha and Aleksis meet: in the Jaeger program, and with a healthy dose of hostility. I LOVE THE RUSSIANS. Fandom has been so great about writing them backstory.

Heeding the Call, by marchingjaybird [Kaidonovskys]
Another way Sasha and Aleksis meet: in Moscow, before the kaiju attacks. Sasha is a boxer! Aleksis is a farmer's cuckoo child who wants to be an engineer! And they fall in love and it's beautiful and perfect yes more of this please.

Girls Night, by snack_size [Sasha and Mako]
Sasha teaches Mako about the pleasures of female rituals. I WILL READ A MILLION FICS ABOUT FEMALE FRIENDSHIP AND THIS IS SO GREAT.

Pacific Swim, by Pocket Aimee [gen ensemble]
The cartoon where nobody dies, they're just lost somewhere out to sea. COMRADE SQUID >>>> EVERYTHING.

Reconstruction Site, by disco_vendetta [Mako/Raleigh]
I read this before I even saw the movie, said "yes, perfect, OTP" and have yet to find anything that supplants its place in my heart. You guys, Raleigh loves Mako soooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuch.

I have a huge soft spot for Team Hot Dads but I haven't found any really good fic for them yet! If you've got suggestions, please let me know. ;)

Ahhh, tropes in hockey fandom, my old nemesis, we meet again! I decided not to get too specific on this one, although I think it is actually possible to dig up five separate recs for specifically "got drunk!married in Vegas" which probably tells you more about hockey fandom than it doesn't. So just plain old marriage fic for today!

Playing for Keeps, by marycontraire [Briere/Giroux]
The one where Danny and Claude decide to get married and it's not really a big deal. I loved that there was no major drama but the little problems that cropped up felt true-to-life, especially Claude's uncertainty over it being Danny's second marriage. (I also love love love how this author writes Danny's kids.) And the way their teammates finally find out is absolutely perfect.

at the end of all your lines, by Lake [Carter/Richards]
I couldn't not include at least one drunk!married in Vegas fic, come on, and this is my favorite. Carts and Richie wake up married and decide not to do anything about it, because they're lazy and bad at feelings! And then are cruelly separated by the trade and pine for each other! And then are reunited to live together forever in wedded bliss! It's kind of refreshing to see a fic where the drunken marriage isn't consummated right away but isn't ignored either; they might not be doing anything about being married, but they don't pretend it never happened, either.

you're the apple to my pie, by daisysusan [Hall/Eberle]
My incompetent baby Oilers, I love them so! This may be me playing favorites but I love how drama-free this fic is. They decide to get married! So they get married! Schmoop ensues! It's basically the Platonic form of marriage fic. And I know they're young and dumb and it's probably a terrible idea but whatever, plenty of athletes marry their high school sweethearts and stay together forever I BELIEVE THESE KIDS CAN MAKE IT WORK. (I have a lot of feelings about Hallsy and Ebs. Just... don't ask.)

oh what a thing to do, by ellot [Carter/Richards]
Believe it or not, I had to seriously winnow things down to only have two Carts/Richie stories on this list. Fandom likes to get them married A LOT. (Art imitates life, etc.) Technically this is marriage proposal fic rather than marriage fic but whatever, I do what I want and every scenario (the fic is four different ways Carts and Richie proposed to each other) is heart-warmingly adorable.

Marry Me A Little, by bessyboo & thisissirius [Kane/Toews]
Don't click on this unless you have A LOT of free time to devote to reading, it's ridiculously long. It's also really hyper-dramatic and only makes sense if you apply soap opera logic (Kaner is getting traded! Tazer can only prevent this by MARRYING HIM! Despite both being madly enough with each other AND MARRIED neither of them can nut up enough to mention it!) but I love romance novels so I enjoy it. If you don't enjoy romance novels, uh, maybe give this one a pass. (If you don't enjoy romance novels, what the hell is wrong with you? Romance novels are the greatest.)

I am getting to the requested themes, I swear! Slowly. (Plenty of days left in the month if you want to suggest something else as well, because I'm capable of thinking up lots of themes but if I'm left to my own devices they're mostly going to be either hockey or vids.) This particular set was requested by

kfunk22, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not really big into Inception (aside from watching L.E.S Artistes about a million times SOMEONE TIE THAT VIDDER UP AND MAKE HER VID MORE I AM A HUGE FAN), but I have braved the wilds of the AO3 and

vidding to bring you some Inception recs about ladies: let us all be grateful I escaped the Fireswamp of Arthur/Eames AUs alive. (I don't hate Inception or Arthur/Eames, I swear! There's just... a lot of it...)

Gravity, by

shinealightonme [Mal]
A beautiful vid about a very mysterious woman. This movie had such great cinematography; there should be more vids out there!

i am the hero of this story (don't need to be saved), by electrumqueen [Mal/Cobb]
What if Mal was right all along?

Presque Vu, by rageprufrock [Arthur+Mal, Arthur/Eames]
This is cheating because it's primarily an Arthur/Eames fic, but Arthur's relationship with Mal is so fascinating and central to the story that I wanted to include it anyway. In the movie it seems like Arthur is doing everything for Cobb; this fic (which is a monster, fair warning) is predicated on the assumption that Arthur was Mal's friend first.

take the long way home (soft as the radio), by

gyzym [Ariadne/Yusuf, Arthur/Eames]
The one where Ariadne takes pictures of everything but doesn't realize what she's seeing in her viewfinder.

Hotel, by

kaydeefalls [Ariadne]
ELLEN PAGE'S LITTLE FAAAAAAACE <3 <3 <3

I don't rec vids as much as I do fic, so a lot of you probably don't know that I am an obsessive fan of vidding. If you are in my physical vicinity and I have my laptop, iPad or phone I will sit you down and force you to watch vids with me for any fandom you show even the slightest interest in. I think vidding is such an amazing art form! And one thing that I think that vids can convey, maybe more artistically and definitely more succinctly than any other medium, is criticism of the source material. With that in mind, today's set of recs are all vids that talk back.

Women's Work, by

sisabet and Luminosity [Supernatural]
One of the great classics of vidding, and much beloved (for good reason!) by academics who work on remix culture. I still remember when this vid came out; I was a very uncritical fan of Supernatural at the time, and watching Women's Work for the first time was definitely a wake-up call. Let's just say that I can't rewatch the early seasons of Supernatural anymore. (warning for a lot of violence against women)

…on the dancefloor, by sloanesomething [Star Trek Reboot]
I loved the first reboot movie to death, I saw it in theaters three or four times, but man, it was so shitty about women. And Into Darkness was even worse. This vid is a really eloquent summation of my feelings on the subject.

How Much Is That Geisha In The Window?, by

lierdumoa [Firefly]
I genuinely had never even thought about racism in the context of Firefly until I watched this vid. You had better believe I think about it now. Every time I read the text at the end of the vid I start tearing up.

White America, by anonymous [Buffy, Veronica Mars, Supernatural]
A controversial selection! Nobody can really tell what this vid is trying to say -- or if it's trying to say any one thing at all. Is it about racism? Censorship? Is it criticizing the source material, or the fans for ignoring the flaws? I agree with some of the criticism of the vid in that it doesn't seem to have a single strong, coherent message, but at the same time, it's still a tremendously compelling piece of art. Watch it and see what you think it's trying to say! (warning for violence)

Bad Things, by niyalune [Teen Wolf]
Teen Wolf: a show in which teenagers are continually threatened, frightened, physically assaulted and sexually harassed by adults, many of whom are supposed to be trusted authority figures. It would be a great commentary on the rape culture our children are growing up in if I thought that the show runners were doing it on purpose; as it is, it's just incredibly creepy. (warning for violence)

I hope all the links are working, but if you have trouble accessing any of the vids, just let me know about I will upload a copy for you!

I actually had a great day today -- I got to see

distira and

idhren24! -- but I also managed to fall up an escalator and now my knee really hurts, so we're going with a feel-good rec set today. These stories aren't necessarily funny, but they're all written with a sense of humor that, well, makes me smile! I would apologize for it being hockey fic again, but... that's the fandom I'm in right now, so just deal with it, I guess? Super short notes because I really want to finish rereading The Outlaws of Sherwood for the millionth time and go to sleep already.

Flip Shut, Hang Up, by

thehoyden and

twentysomething
Alex Ovechkin's POV is a gift to us all. As are his musical selections.

Closed Fracture, by lightgetsin
Found family is the best theme in the world and I would happily read a million fics about Mario being Sid's dad. GO WRITE MORE ABOUT MARIO BEING SID'S DAD, FANDOM. MY BRUISED KNEES DEMAND IT.

We Should Get Jerseys ('Cause We Make A Good Team), by

svmadelyn
Abby Sharp is the best Sharp.

do it like they do on the discovery channel, by hazel
I'm only here for the descriptions of Kaner's vintage eighties porn tbh.

Tour de Force, by

thehoyden
Secret novelist Kaner, aka the fic that made me start reading in hockey fandom.

thehoyden has so much to answer for.

Also, I cannot in good faith recommend the Hallsy/Ebs fanvid set to a Taylor Swift song, but. It definitely makes me smile.

Flist, I write to you tonight having wined and dined to delicious excess at a very expensive restaurant, so what better topic for the day's recs could there be than food? (Also this was the only set I had finished already. Shhh.) Everybody loves food! It's a win-win.

Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property, by helenish (Harry Potter, Draco/Neville)
If you haven't read this fic already, I don't know what to tell you. It's probably my favorite of all time? I think it's become more meaningful now that I'm older and actually do cook a bit; I loved it the first time I read it, but I identify a lot more with Draco's character arc now and the way he finds independence for the first time in becoming essentially a housewife. Cooking and cleaning and other kinds of "women's work" get a bad rap, and I certainly wouldn't want that as a full-time job, but there really is something liberating about being able to do all those things, and it's a tremendous demonstration of love to do them for someone else.

Cupboard Love, by mklutz (Teen Wolf, Stiles/Derek)
Another Teen Wolf fic that has been AU'd into acceptability, don't worry! The main plot is pretty standard romcom fare, but I really love the role that cooking plays in both Stiles' characterization (he cooks to feel close to his dead mother) and the story. And the descriptions of the food itself... don't read this fic while you're hungry, all I'm saying.

I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York) by gyzym (Inception, Arthur/Eames)
Yes, it's the AU where Eames runs a coffeeshop and Arthur is a miserable junior lawyer who stress-bakes! If, like me, you have an enormous sweet tooth, the descriptions of baked goods in this fic will be your downfall. I WANT TO EAT IT ALL.

savoy truffle, by hazel and ellievolia (Hockey RPF, Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews)
Ahahahaha Kaner is a secret baker, I have nothing, leave me to my shame.

Settling In, by

nahco3 (Football RPF, Patrice Evra/Park Ji-Sung)
It only took me six days to weasel some footie into this project, nobody is surprised. :P This fic is a little different from the rest of the set because it's not about cooking per se, but food still plays an important role in the settling in (haha see what I did there? OH GOD I NEED TO GO TO SLEEP BEFORE I PUN AGAIN) of characters who have been displaced from their homes and are in the process of finding a new home in each other. (Oh lawd that sounds so pretentious. I'M SORRY, IT'S LATE.) Like, there's something really meaningful to me about sharing not just food but your food with another person. I don't know, I'm not very good at articulating this, it's related somehow to why learning to make latkes was so important to me and I make them for every friend I can even though they are the most horrifically messy food imaginable, tl;dr FOOD IS IMPORTANT, SHARE YOUR FOOD WITH YOUR LOVED ONES.

I LOVE FOOD, I don't know if you've noticed yet. Maybe at some point this month I'll do a rec post of delicious recipes that even a broke as fuq kitchen incompetent like me can manage! It's a thought.

It really should not be this difficult for me to pick out five fics about Eric Staal. \o/

mardia requested this, so any and all blame falls on her doorstep! Also, I am really alarmingly mono-ship about EStaal (to the point where I sort of irrationally dislike Sasha Semin SOLELY BECAUSE PEOPLE SHIP HIM WITH ERIC) and therefore you're not going to find anything but Staal/Skinner on this list: you have been warned. (JEFF is allowed to date whoever he likes, though, and in fact I encourage him to acquire sexual experience with multiple partners, preferably including Actual Swedish Prince of My Heart Gabe Landeskog. The part of my brain responsible for shipping is a dark and scary place.) With these disclaimers solidly in place, on to the list!

the chatfic where Eric is Jeff's babydaddy, by

shoemaster &

go_gentle
If you only read one ridiculous, sprawling, epic chatfic in your life, make it this one. (Or, uh, maybe the one where Ebs and Hallsy go on an accidental couples vacation, I would need to search my soul A LOT before picking a favorite.) I love everything this fic chooses to be. The degree to which Eric pines for someone he has ALREADY KNOCKED UP is astronomical and yet perfect. Also perfect: the degree to which he lives in fear of all parental units and their reaction to the fact that he knocked up a teenager. (Shout-out to Enough To Crush Your Veins, because sometimes when I'm feeling down I go back and reread all the parts about Jeff's mom hating Eric and cackle to myself. Parental hatred is so good for me.) MOST PERFECT: ALL THE DOMESTICITY, FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN.

Essentials, by lightgtsin
Ahahaha speaking of domesticity. Clearly I have a pattern.

I Think That It's Best If We Both Stay, by

distira
Written for me, written for me, my objectivity is nil because this was written for meeeeeeeeeee! And it's beautiful and perfect and full of fabulously unsexy details of athlete life. And seriously, why IS it that everyone writes AUs where Jeff never makes it in the NHL, but this is the only one where Eric's the one who washed out somewhere along the way? I call shenanigans.

Call It A Draw, by

rsadelle
La la la DOMESTIC THREESOME FIC lalala

If Heaven's Hypothetical, by

impertinence &

shoemaster
Y'all didn't really think I was going to leave this one out, did you? PERSONAL FAVE. I sincerely doubt anyone who's ever heard of hockey fandom hasn't at least seen this fic, but if you've been holding off on the "Jeff is homeless" AU because you're afraid it's going to be unavoidably sketchy, let me reassure you that it is beautiful and wonderful and not in the least dubcon-y. (At least in my opinion? Obviously your mileage may vary but I think it's handled as gracefully as possible.) And god, the payoff for all that pining is glorious.

I don't watch Elementary, I just look at gifsets on Tumblr and sometimes read or watch things when they pop up on my flist. So there's your grain of salt, take it if you like!

justkisa asked for Elementary, and who am I to deny her? ;) I'm pretty sure I've recommended four out of five of these before to someone, but Twitter is a very transitory medium so it's probably for the best to have them in one place anyway.

Brainy, by irishmizzy
I mostly clicked on this the first time because I really like the song -- I'd never seen anything by this vidder before, and I'm wary of YouTube fanvids. I'm only sorry that irishmizzy didn't have more vids for me to watch when I was done! This one is really lovely. I mean, you might need me more than you think you will is clearly a line written for Joan Watson.

La Chanson des Vieux Amants, by language_escapes
The one with the bees! Long and very satisfying, and a great Joan POV.

Paler Than Grass, by philalethia
I think this might be the first Elementary fic I ever read? It was a while ago, but I remember it being a very nice introduction to the fandom. Sherlock keeps interfering with Joan's dates.

Without Beauty, by queenklu
Sherlock wears a dress and makes cupcakes. It's not funny at all; it's really sweet and touching instead.

A Thousand Miles, by

fray_adjacent
BEIRUT <333

I think five is the perfect number for these sets, by the way. I usually have one or two things in mind for each theme already so I don't have to scour the internet too much, and this way I can't let myself get so obsessive about including everything. So I'm having fun; I hope you're enjoying the stuff I rec!

Drive-by rec post today because I am in an airport about to board a plane and I don't have time to follow any of your excellent suggestions (all great and I will do my best to do them justice!) so instead I'm doing something a little different! These are five non-fannish music videos that I think are legitimately awesome.

Blurred Lines (Sexy Boys Parody) - Mod Carousel
I feel like calling this a parody really sells it short -- it's genuinely a great music video even without reading it as criticism of the original Blurred Lines music video. The singers are all fantastic and everybody looks like they're having so much (sexy!) fun.

Winner - Pet Shop Boys
Transgender roller derby girls. Every time I watch this video I tear up a little.

Like Me - Teen Beach Movie
It's a fucking Disney channel musical. It's terrible. And yet also incredibly hilarious? You're welcome for the earworm.

Gazpacho - La Ogra
It's a music video! It's a recipe for gazpacho! What more do you want? (Tip of the hat to

khoshgeleh_16 for introducing me to this song.)

Soccer Practice - Johnny McGovern
I... feel like I should justify this choice somehow, but I got nothing. It's a super catchy song! TECHNICALLY non-fannish! Though if it somehow became a Yuletide fandom I would not complain... (Really that goes for all of these. C'mon guys, that Blurred Lines parody would make for such great fic!)

Just to make this clear, I do not watch Teen Wolf. I've seen the first... four episodes, I think, with a friend from library school, and I did enjoy them very much, but it was really not the show that I see in gifsets on Tumblr all the time. (For instance, based of those four episodes? SCOTT/STILES ALL THE WAY, they are beautiful devoted incompetents. Allison can come too.) And based on the gifsets, I ship Stiles/Danny with the fire of a thousand suns. HOWEVER, you kind of can't participate in Teen Wolf fandom at all without encountering Stiles/Derek, so I'm only reccing the Stiles/Derek that I, a person whose OTP, in the words of another library school friend, is Derek/therapy, find enjoyable. Be not afraid!

Happy and Proud, by nerjaveika (Stiles/Derek)
I dare you to watch this vid start to finish and not laugh. The comedic timing is exquisite. Seriously, I had never seen a single episode of Teen Wolf the first time I watched it, and I still almost died laughing. (There are some major typos and misspellings but I promise you that it is worth looking past them.)

Next Thursday, by wldnst (Stiles/Danny)
STILES/DANNY OTP. I'm also going to cheat a little and add that you should check out all of this author's fic as well as Chash/

longsufferingly for more of the good ship Team For God's Sake Stop Dating Werewolves They Make Terrible Boyfriends, but this one is super great. (It's really hard to find Stiles/Danny on the AO3 because it's frequently a background pairing for Stiles/Derek, and that is terrible for budding shippers. Here, I filtered out the bad pairing for you. Enjoy!)

Darling It Is No Joke, by

thehoyden (Stiles/Derek)
This is the fic that made me start reading in Teen Wolf fandom. It was kind of a misleading introduction, because all of the stuff I find unavoidably gross about the fandom generally (age difference, Derek needs SO MUCH THERAPY on account of his dead family and abusive ex before he should ever date again, TEENAGE WEREWOLVES ARE TEENAGERS DO NOT COMMIT TO BE YOUR HIGH SCHOOL BOYFRIEND'S FOREVER GIRL) has been handily AU'd out! So the fic is great, but then my expectations met the reality of the rest of the pickings on the AO3 and it was a little painful. BUT ANYWAY. This is the one where Stiles thinks Derek is a cop stripper. If you haven't read it yet, you really should.

Picking Up Strays (and sequels), by

peroxidepest17 (gen)
Because Stiles and his dad adopting all the lonely stray werewolves is really how this show should have gone and you cannot tell me otherwise. I WILL FIGHT YOU.

Moves, by sisabet (Stiles)
I am allowed to have my shallow affection for Stiles Stilinski's beautiful and expressive little face, ok. Leave me alone.

WHEN YOU FAIL TO TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT, YOU GET TEENAGE WEREWOLVES. LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU. (By which I mean: give me prompts, guys.)

Hi guys! Long time no post, I know. I'm still alive and finally back from Europe (and missing

khoshgeleh_16 and

aramley terribly ;_;) and I'm trying to commit to being around more, so I've decided to challenge myself by doing a set of five recs every day this month. I've got some themes in mind already, but if there's something you'd like to see (fandom-specific or not), drop a comment and let me know, because I definitely don't have plans for all thirty days! This first set is something I promised to

ladytelemachus ages ago, so hopefully she still wants to read it and forgives my incredible tardiness...

Trope Inversion in Hockey RPF

Let it not be said that I went into hockey fandom willingly. I went kicking and screaming all the way (while managing to unwittingly incept a couple of you before even accepting the fandom into my heart? My brain is a weird place sometimes and my enabling powers are apparently off the hook), but damn if that fandom doesn't know how to write a good fic. (And some really shitty ones, let's be real, we aren't looking for miracles here.) And furthermore, hockey fandom is all about tropes, which is pretty much my jam, y'all know I was doomed from the start.

Let's talk about tropes! I love them all (okay, almost all, de-aging sometimes freaks me out and I can go either way on mpreg and babyfic, but I will reject nothing out of hand), and I love it when a fic goes all-in on one: balls to the wall, let's cliche the fuck out of this trope is really good for me. But there is a special space in my heart for fic that takes a trope and uses it to say something else, whether it's about fandom or fic or the world in general. So here, have some recommendations for what I think are really outstanding examples of trope inversion.

a light-handed approach to regulation, by hazel (Kane/Toews) [Alpha/Omega]
I can see you flinching and backing away from the alpha/omega category already. Don't. I have a lot of opinions about the Alpha/Omega trope in general and how it expresses unspoken anxieties about the debate surrounding reproductive rights and this fic is a really great example of that, but all of that aside, this is a fantastic story with great worldbuilding and an unexpectedly beautiful romance.

Switch, by montrose (Kane/Toews) [BDSM Universe]
I'm not sure how many of you have read helenish's Take Clothes Off As Directed (if you haven't, go, this page will be waiting when you get back), but this story does not suffer in comparison AT ALL, and that's saying something. BDSM universe as a metaphor for women's rights is definitely still worth exploring, but this particular example also does some really interesting things with the "myth" of bisexuality, which I hadn't seen before and thought was very well handled.

Fastening One Heart to Every Falling Thing, by thefourthvine (Crosby/Malkin) [Soulbonding]
You know what's all over fandom these days as a romantic trope? Soulbonding. You know what would really, really suck in real life? Being soulbonded to someone. You know what's actually romantic? Being with somebody because you want to, not because you have to. Throw in some truly spectacular worldbuilding and a heaping portion of hurt/comfort AND really delightful found family and you have one of the masterpieces of hockey fandom!

beating like a hammer, by grim_lupine (Richards/Carter) [De-Aging]
De-aging is a weirdly prevalent trope in hockey fandom despite the fact that the basic premise (someone gets turned into a child due to an inability to handle adult stressors and is consequently left helpless and lacking in verbal filter, prospective romantic partner must take care him/her and in the process reveals/discovers that their love is mutual) is sketchy as hell. I was really pleased to discover this fic, in which nobody is regressed to below the age of consent, and also the glorious misery of teenage brain chemistry is showcased to perfection.

Love in Fast Forward, by ionthesparrow (Richards+Carter) [Friends to Lovers]
I hesitated to read this for a really long time because the summary ("No, they don't get together in the end") made me think it would make me sad. I cannot express how wrong I was. This story (pair of stories, really) is one of the most uplifting narratives I've ever read, and I keep going back to it when I need a pick-me-up. It wasn't the first fic I thought of to put on this list by a long shot, either, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it needed to be on here, because what trope is more prevalent in sports RPF than friends to lovers? Aside from rival hatesex, that's pretty much all sports RPF is. But there's more than one kind of love out there. They don't always have to get together in the end.

And that makes five! I hope even if you're not in a given fandom you'll take a look (especially for this set, because if you're in hockey fandom you've probably already read all five of these at least twice) -- I'll do my best to pick accessible examples. It's been a long time since I've done recs, but it's good to get back in the saddle!

hey guys! if anyone here is still looking for football recs, I have updated the list. new fic is marked with an asterisk, as per usual. I also wanted to let you know that I think the list is now... complete, for lack of a better word. or at least not getting updated again. I obviously haven't been able to dedicate the time and attention to it that I used to given how long it's been since my last update, and I'm just not enthusiastic enough about it anymore to promise I'll be better.

I'm not leaving football fandom, and I might still add things to the list for all I know (hell, by the time

cornerflag rolls around I might be back on the bandwagon), but at least for now, the rec shop is closed. there are other people in football fandom who do recs now, and I'm sure you'll all be able to find things to read without my assistance! it's been really great to meet so many people in the two and a half years I've been working on the list, and some minor wank aside, it's been a wonderful experience for me -- thank you all so much for writing all this lovely fic and for caring what I had to say about it! ♥

PS: I tried really, really hard to get through all of my backlog of "stuff to be recced" before closing it out. the lone holdout was the 2007 Secret Santa exchange. there was too much to read, I'm sorry, I just couldn't make myself do it -- but if any of you gets really desperate for something so old it's new to read, the full list is here.

I just watched the BBC adaptation of North & South and am currently being consumed with emotions. if you have not seen it yet, it's a delightful period drama which one might describe as "Pride and Prejudice set during the Industrial Revolution". the heroine is fantastic, the hero is a borderline-abusive jackass who puts Darcy to shame (seriously, at least Darcy just insulted Elizabeth's family before asking her to marry him; Thornton tells Margaret that her friends deserve to starve and be beaten by the police, and then goes ahead with the proposal like it's no big deal) but manages to have a convincing redemption arc, and the cinematography is gorgeous. the last scene. I just. ALL MY FEELINGS.

anyway, I then went looking for fic! and was severely disappointed because there was almost none! come be disappointed with me, guys. and write me all of the post-reconciliation fic ever.

Sick of Shadows by

lettered is an abandoned WIP, but if I have to cry myself to sleep over how THERE'S NO FUCKING MORE OF IT WHYYYYYYY you guys do too! it's an AU where Margaret is persuaded to marry Thornton to save her reputation after she rescues him from the rioting mill workers, and slow burn does not even begin to describe the chemistry the author builds between John and Margaret. read it. also definitely read the final porn outtake, it almost makes up for the THERE'S NO FUCKING MORE OF IT WHYYYYYYY at the end.

Age of Evolution by SummerRed is the best of the pickings on the AO3 (WHERE IS ALL THE YULETIDE FIC? WHERE ARE THE FESTIVIDS VIDS? THIS IS NOT NEW SOURCE MATERIAL, FANDOM, I AM DISAPPOINT), and it's a really charming story about the Thorntons getting married and going on their honeymoon. and also talking about ethical business practice and Charles Darwin, of course.

and since I finally solved the mystery of WHERE THE HELL IS THE REST OF THE FIC, I thought I would share my discovery with you! North & South appears to have evolved as some sort of offshoot from Austen fandom, which has its own special corner of the internet. long story short, there's almost no fic on the AO3, but there is quite a bit on the forums at C19. you have to get an account before you can read anything, which is a bit awkward, but I'm burning my way through completed fics as fast as I can find them and if anything exceptionally delightful turns up I will certainly let you all know!

I will now return to crying about how I have homework and don't have time for a new fandom, goddamn it. like that has ever actually worked.

consider this my belated YULETIIIIIIDE post! I really do mean to put together a proper list of recs, but I'm slow. in the meantime, I got two WONDERFUL fics for

yuletide this year, both for Bend It Like Beckham: 5 Games Jess Played In, which is a HOGWARTS AU THAT'S RIGHT, and The Girls of Summer, which is a fabulous and perfectly in-character fic written entirely in the form of commentary on the semifinal of the 2011 Women's World Cup. if you haven't read them yet, what are you waiting for?

I only wrote one fic this year, which I regard as something of a personal failure, but I'm going to try and get a NYR or two done at some point. the timing just wasn't very good for me, which is unfortunate but the way things go sometimes. (the combination of all my sleep-debt from finals week hitting me juuuuust as I surrendered to my feelings about The Hobbit was a killer, let's not pretend any of this was something other than my own damn fault.) but I didn't default! and hopefully I didn't ruin my recipient's yuletide or anything, haha.

title: You Should Come Around More, Alabama
fandom: Hart of Dixie
pairing: Lemon Breeland/George Tucker, Lemon Breeland/Wade Kinsella if you squint
rating: PG
word count: 1493
summary: While George is in New York City, Lemon finds companionship in an unlikely place.
notes: I know none of you watch Hart of Dixie, but you really should! It's a super-charming show. I have a different ship for every day of the week and two on Sundays, but I love the weird relationship between Lemon, George and Wade, especially when they're not really thinking about Zoe.

it might just be the right time for you and me (but to be honest it's probably not)

I am supposed to be working right now but I wanted to pop in and tell everybody to go watch the first two episodes of Some Girls, which is a new BBC3 comedy about four friends who live in council housing and play for the school football team. It is hilarious and adorable and I wish it had come out in time for Yuletide nominations! Episode One and Episode Two, go go go!

AND NOW I RETURN TO MY REGULARLY SCHEDULED OVID FREAKOUT.

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september recs, day sixteen: songs without words
september recs, day fifteen: yuletide
september recs, day fourteen: figure skating rpf
september recs, day thirteen: bad girls do it well
september recs, day twelve: genderswap, hockey edition
september recs, day eleven: pacific rim
september recs, day ten: marriage fic, hockey edition
september recs, day nine: inception, female-centric
september recs, day eight: meta vids
september recs, day seven: hockey fics that make me smile
september recs, day six: stories about food
september recs, day five: eric staal
september recs, day four: elementary
september recs, day three: music videos
september recs, day two: teenage werewolves
september recs, day one: tropes in hockey fandom
an update (in more than one sense of the word)
if I have to suffer, I'm taking you all down with me
fic: you should come around more, alabama (hart of dixie)
duck for cover, I found a TV show I like!

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the fandom librarian

(indexed and cross-referenced for your convenience)

Entries tagged with recs

september recs, day sixteen: songs without words

september recs, day fifteen: yuletide

september recs, day fourteen: figure skating rpf

september recs, day thirteen: bad girls do it well

september recs, day twelve: genderswap, hockey edition

september recs, day eleven: pacific rim

september recs, day ten: marriage fic, hockey edition

september recs, day nine: inception, female-centric

september recs, day eight: meta vids

september recs, day seven: hockey fics that make me smile

september recs, day six: stories about food

september recs, day five: eric staal

september recs, day four: elementary

september recs, day three: music videos

september recs, day two: teenage werewolves

september recs, day one: tropes in hockey fandom

an update (in more than one sense of the word)

if I have to suffer, I'm taking you all down with me

fic: you should come around more, alabama (hart of dixie)

duck for cover, I found a TV show I like!