A Fan's Playground

lirazel expressed interest in a rec list of some of my favourite vids and I am very suggestible when it comes to rec lists so here you go! :D Unfortunately a few of the older vids that I remember fondly are no longer available online for me to share with you (the batman vid set to johnny cash's cover of hurt! the highlander vid about methos/lord byron! and more!), but there are still plenty of excellent vids up and about, and new ones worth watching keep being made!

Yes this rec list is 22 vids long, shush, I couldn't cut any of these out. I just got so emotional in the process of making this rec list at how wonderful an artform the fanvid is! It can do so many different things! It can be so powerful in such a brief space of time!

I've ordered the list below alphabetically by fandom. I go through a lot of different fandoms here!

And it was so fun too to work on practicing my skills at describing a vid and explaining what's good about it; I have many years of practice at talking about written narratives, but interpreting and talking about visual media is still a skillset that I'm not instinctively good at and don't have as much experience with. But I think I did pretty good with these vids. I hope you enjoy them!

( cut for length )

A while ago kiki-eng made a post about ten sga fanworks they still think about sometimes. And I was like OOH WHAT A GREAT IDEA and started writing a draft list of sga fanworks I still think about sometimes and...the list got to be a LOT over ten.

LOOK I JUST HAVE SO MANY SGA FEELINGS STILL.

So I will start by giving you the unadulterated list of nearly-thirty fanworks I still think about sometimes (still incomplete; there's plenty of other fics I also still think about sometimes! I just made myself stop), and then I'll narrow it down to ten that I'll actually talk about.


What Is Eternal
Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose
the one with the atlantis queer community John isn't part of but needs to be
the one where Ronon becomes Canadian
unidentified and its dvd commentary
the hard prayer
written by the victors
girl scout cookies
the one with the lesbians
soccer practice
postcards to jeannie
verity's pretend relationship fic
a beautiful lifetime event
marines to the rescue
the one with khama nuts
the one where john reinvents pizza
absurdity theory
black helicopters
if you want to kiss the sky
the one where john has a kite shop
healing station argh
the one where Rodney's using a time machine thing to constantly interfere with John's life to keep him from dying
the one where they meet in a museum as teens and Rodney writes John a ref letter pretending to be a prof
the sedoretu one
found poetry
the one where John is Rodney's mathematician
the yeshiva au



So let's narrow this down! (narrowing this down was REALLY HARD.)



What Is Eternal, by gnine
SGA fandom dates back to the days when I still thought I just wasn't into vids - this turned out to be because I hadn't yet watched enough vids to have learned how to read them, because following visual narratives or visual arguments does not come naturally to me. But this vid was one of the few from SGA days that struck me enough that I rewatched it regularly, until I had figured out how to parse it. I think there are a few things about this vid that made it work for me back in the day. First: the song has very clearly articulated lyrics that allow me to actually follow what the singer is saying, and the song has a very strong through-line of actually saying something which I could then use to map onto what the images were saying. Second: I knew that I couldn't expect to understand everything, because I'd never seen the episode (s) in question, so I went in without expectations of it actually making sense to me. And I'd read enough fic that obliquely or otherwise referred to the events of the episode, that I could follow the overall arc if not the details. So between the strong song choice and just enough in the way of clear visuals for me to be able to have feelings, I ended up watching the vid on repeat a ridiculous number of times. Rewatching the vid now, there are still a LOT of clip choices that are absolutely incomprehensible to me because the brief clip stands for something larger that I'm not aware of, refers to something in the episode that I can't draw the connection to. And yet despite the holes in my understanding, the vid still works as a vid. And I still have lots of feels. (and I still love the song.)

Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose, by synecdochic
How do I even begin? THIS FIC. THIS FIC. I just. It's a masterpiece and I have a million feels. This was one of those fics that made bb!me feel like fanfiction can be genuinely quality literary work, and this fic is genuine quality but it has to be fanfiction for it to work. Your ability to understand the emotional through-line of the story requires you to understand both what happened on the show AND what fandom thought was a likely result for the characters of what the show was doing. All of that backstory is so lightly and delicately sketched, and yet so monumentally important for informing all of the things Rodney does in this fic. So I admire the hell out of this fic and also fall to emotional pieces over it because auuuuuugh what a good everything.

the one with the atlantis queer community John isn't part of but needs to be - Friendly, by speranza
It's a fic about QUEER COMMUNITY and that is not something I'd seen much of before first reading this fic, iirc. It's like, so much fic is about two dudes being gay in isolation and that is not my experience of being queer AT ALL. (though I wasn't yet identifying as queer when I first read this fic) But the bit from this fic that sticks with me the most is the moment where John is carefully removing from himself every symbol of his military status so that he can be a person instead of a symbol of dangerous oppressive authority. That is just a really great moment.

the one where Ronon becomes canadian - My Home and Native Land, by copperbadge
Look, what isn't there to love about this fic! iirc I came to this fic later, not in my SGA heyday, so it feels a little weird to group it with most of these other fics, but I mean I definitely think about this fic a lot so! I love that it has a really good outsider perspective from a non-earth character that respects the cultural traditions he comes from and also respects Earth's, and it's about kind of an inter-cultural dialogue and inter-cultural friendships and coming to find a place where you can feel like you fit when your home culture is no longer an option. Also it's about Canada so obviously that's a draw too.

DVD commentary of Unidentified, by fiercelydreamed
This was so revelatory to me as a young fan, this kind of really thoughtful analysis of a fic by an extremely capable writer. It's this kind of thing that opens a reader/aspiring-writer's eyes to what can go into putting together a quality story. I liked the fic a great deal, but it was the dvd commentary that I reread over and over and over again. I no longer remember much of what the dvd commentary actually said, but that's not really the point - the point was the writing nerdery. And I was so there for it, and I still think about it a lot.

The Hard Prayer, by rheanna
Frick, too many feels. I remember that when I was first recced this fic (I think Essie recced it to me?) I was kind of leery because post-apocalyptic is not really a genre calculated to excite me. But I was drawn in so fast. Rodney and John are so clearly deeply affected by the trauma they've gone through, and the ways they're affected are treated with such respect by the narrative, and the two of them help each other through the tough things but don't fix each other with the magic of true love or anything like that. And the apocalypse itself is so evocative and real-feeling and awful, and basically this fic is super emotionally harrowing and not one I could reread often but wow does it stick in one's mind.

verity's pretend relationship fic - paper cranes (upstairs, downstairs), by verity
Verity got into SGA fandom long after I'd left it but just for them I gleefully fell right back in. And for a long time I got regular fic updates in my email from them of the SGA fics they were writing. And all of the fics were so great and so up my alley. But this one was my favourite. So on top of being a wonderful piece of writing, this fic also reminds me of my SGA renaissance and of my friendship with Verity, and basically it's a happy place.

A Beautiful Lifetime Event, by astolat
...This is the fic that dragged me into SGA fandom. It's not even one of my top-fifty favourites anymore, probably, because SGA fandom has SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, but it is still a fic that is very important to me and that I will never forget.

If you want to kiss the sky, by siegeofangels
This is the first fic I have tagged in all my bookmarks ever as being about asexuality, so like, obviously it's gonna have stuck with me. It's a fic where "normal" is dudes having sex with each other all the time, and this is something John has had to put up with forever if he wants to be in the military, if he wants to be able to fly. It's a fic about not wanting sex in a hypersexualized culture, and how that's okay, and about finding a person with whom he can be himself.

Absurdity Theory, by julad
It's just so perfectly Rodney and Radek! And it's the right kind of ridiculously silly premise treated with a (relatively) straight face that makes for one of my favourite kinds of fics. I don't know, I don't have anything meaningful to say about this one, I just love it. Such adorable nerdery.

ALDKLFHSDFLKJ so Rock Happy by ArwenLune! I have a lot of thoughts/feels! I KNOW I USUALLY RESERVE THIS SORT OF POST FOR PUBLISHED BOOKS BUT wowwwww a couple sentences in my pinboard bookmark just WON'T CUT IT FOR THIS FIC.

So. Rock Happy is a crossover fic between Generation Kill (strictly the tv show, fictional version of these characters) and Stargate: Atlantis, which the author summarizes thusly:

"You want to recruit me for what? You want me to go where?"

Sgt. Brad Colbert has been on a lot of strange missions, but this promises to be his most out there yet: Atlantis.

This is not a story about falling in love. This is a story about falling in team.

( And spoiler time! )

When I posted Scenarios I mentioned maybe doing a set of PUBLIC TRANSIT fic recs. Here it is! Because it is a glorious trope, and all of the following are glorious examples of the trope at its best. (okay, so some of them don't fit the standard trope pattern EXACTLY, but they still involve public transit so WHATEVER I'm including them anyways BECAUSE I CAN)

(I'm not including airplanes in forms of public transit for the purpose of this recs-set because it's not something I thought to tag as being this, but upon reflection it kind of is. Please forgive this lapse on my part.)

( 11 recs for SGA, CW RPF, Doctor Who, Inception, BtVS, AI RPF, and bandom )

Apparently I am in a RECCING KIND OF MOOD or something, given the tenor of my last several posts. We'll see how long this lasts.

So! As requested by carmarthen, here is a rec set of epistolary fic!

Where Do You Do Your Research, Wikipedia?, by carmarthen. The Eagle. Marcus/Esca. Of course this has to be first, the epistolary fic by Carmarthen herself. ♥ WHAT, IT'S WONDERFUL. You can reread and enjoy your own fic, right? :D And for the rest of you who are not Carmarthen: It is a modern AU, in which they are all in a Roman reenactment group. It is obviously written out of a place of love and familiarity with the quirks of reenactors, and it is GREAT. Funny, adorable, spot-on, all that. Recommended even if you are not familiar with The Eagle!

How to Get Your Man, by misfit_fandoms. Star Trek XI. Chekov/Sulu. In which Chekov courts Sulu, as documented by missives of various sorts, between various people. It is adorable!

Bruno Walton for Student Body President, by kel and rageprufrock. Macdonald Hall series. Bruno/Boots. Er, for all, what, one person on my flist who has read the Macdonald Hall books? Or maybe there's more of you! Or maybe you should read this fic even if you're not familiar with the series! Yeah, let's go with that. After all, I did, and clearly I am an excellent example to follow in this regard. So. All you need to know: Bruno and Boots are two boys who went to boarding school together as kids and were totally inseparable and also trouble-makers. Bruno is the ringleader. This fic is futurefic, in which they're at university together, sending emails to each other during class. It is excellent and you totally want to read it even if you've never heard of Macdonald Hall.

Killing Elvis, by hradzka. Alien. Gen. Um. APPARENTLY there is a second theme here in this rec set, which is, FIC YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW THE CANON FOR. (let me retroactively state that you probs don't need to know Star Trek to enjoy the Chekov/Sulu one either, but hell, you, Dear Reader, are in fandom, and thus I am betting you know at least something about Star Trek. There you go. Now you can read that fic too.) All I knew about Alien before reading this fic: there is an alien. See? You too can read this fic with no outside knowledge! This is a fic about three poor people have to deal with bureaucracy and employee stupidity (and boss stupidity) and a dangerous alien and doing their jobs all at once. It is AWESOME.

Postcards to Jeannie, by friendshipper. SGA. Gen. Um, actually, now I'm afraid I have to say that I actually don't know how well this one would work if you aren't somewhat familiar with SGA. OH WELL. This is a great fic! It is about the friendship between Teyla and Jeannie, as expressed through postcards, and also about the sibling relationship between Rodney and Jeannie, and the lovely teaminess of the SGA team. It is lovely.

And there you go! I hope you have enjoyed these epistolary fics! (and if you have requests for other rec set themes/tropes/etc, feel free to suggest. I may or may not take you up on them, depending on how well I have that particular thing tagged!)

Let's talk about sex, since all of fandom seems unable to think of anything but. And who am I to ignore fandom's True Love? It may or may not be clear to you yet, dear (probably nonexistent) reader, but I have of late been thinking a great deal about asexuality, especially as it relates to fandom. The only fic I have thus far posted was about a non-sexual relationship (with, in my mind, one of the two characters being asexual). My last post talked about the Doctor as asexual. The fic I'm currently editing in order to post has a character who believes she's asexual for a while.

I find that I am more likely than most people to see characters as asexual. The Doctor for example, as I previously mentioned. Or Spock. As far as I can tell, Vulcans are functionally asexual whenever they're not in Pon Farr, which is most of the time (oh, they may deep down be having sexual feelings, but those are FEELINGS and to be ruthlessly repressed. Also sex is something that tends to break one's control of one's self, which I can't see Vulcans willingly involving themselves in. Which means that Vulcans may or may not have sexual desires, but either way they wouldn't go about having sex or even thinking about sex. Which means then that nearly ALL the lovely Kirk/Spock fic out there reads to me as automatically out of character. Now I don't mind too much, as I really do enjoy K/S fic. I just wish that there were a few more authors who would treat Spock's sexuality a little more like what I see as canon. Actually, I wish there were more fics out there about asexual characters at ALL. But fandom appears to be mostly slash-centric.

Not that I'm complaining too much, since I do enjoy a good slash fic meself. In fact I really love slash fic dearly (and surprisingly strongly since I was only converted to slash about eight months ago. I blame SGA. And in particular I blame Rodney and John for being so awesome together. And I blame A Beautiful Lifetime Event by shalott for introducing me to their awesomeness)

I am in fact very interested in the wide varieties of sexuality expressed within fandom. I just also happen to be less interested in the actual, y'know, sex. Unlike what appears to be a lot of the fandom world, I do not read fanfic solely for the joy of the smut scenes. I in fact find it annoying when a sex scene is stuck in and slows down the plot. Now I'm not saying I'm AGAINST sex scenes; I'm just against GRATUITOUS sex scenes. If there is a reason why the characters have to be sexing it up, some part of the emotional arc or plot arc that needs the sex, then that's all well and good. Unfortunately most of fandom seems to see sex scenes as... I dunno, scene breaks or something. Which then of course requires one to come at the very end to close off the story -- when to me the story seemed to be done already BEFORE the characters hopped in the sack.

And I can't think of a good way to end this entry tidily, so it will now just end.