boys becoming men, men becoming wolves
helloooo
I know I was just in your inbox last week, but I’ll be traveling next week so you get a smallish newsletter today!
I unplugged from social media for a full 24 hours this week. I’ve done that in smaller doses, but this was the first time I deliberately turned off all notifications. It was a challenge, but sometimes I look at twitter and it feels like my brain is full of noise and I can’t make sense of it, or my own voice. So it was good to be quiet for a while. I watched a bunch of anime and bought spooky socks.
Notable Breakfast
wisely erred on the side of too many grits this time around
Dog Thing
chipmunk early detection system
Mixed Media
It’s only been a few weeks, but The Good Place has quickly become not only my favourite new show, but one of my favourite shows, period. But honestly, that shouldn’t be surprising considering it’s from Mike Schur, creator of Parks & Recreation, the show that really introduced me to fandom, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which I would marry, were it legal to do so.
The premise is that when you die, it doesn’t come down to heaven vs hell, but rather a collection of good places and bad places. The Good Place is one of many such neighborhoods, each designed by an architect, in this case one who is both totally new at it, and is accustomed to being an incorporeal being. This guy:
Things start to fall apart when it becomes clear that there are people there who really shouldn’t be. They’re not bad bad, just normal bad. Generally selfish. Eleanor is one of them.
She’s soulmate-matched with Chidi, who was a professor of ethics while he was alive, and who decides to teach Eleanor to be a good person so she can stay in the good place. Because her being there and being herself sort of makes the place fall apart.
Like all Schur shows, this one’s strength is its heart. The characters are flawed and funny–even the people who seem untouchably perfect. But they care about each other, and it’s hard to resist caring about them, too.
It’ll be interesting to see how the show expands, considering its narrow premise, but for now I am loving every minute of it.
Also:
I finished Amanchu!, the sweet anime about two girls in a high school scuba diving club. It was a weird show, but ultimately satisfying. The romance even went the way I was hoping it would, which never happens! Apparently I’m into sports anime these days, because I started Yuri!!! On Ice, which is about figure skaters. It’s directed by Sayo Yamamoto, who also directed episodes of the great Samurai Champloo, which makes sense when you compare the kinetic action in Champloo with the skating in Yuri. It’s only just begun airing on Crunchyroll, but the first episode was really strong and I am very excited.
I read The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe, which is a standalone graphic novel from the same team doing the ongoing comic, Ryan North and Erica Henderson. It is completely a delight, and everything you would expect from Ryan and Erica after two years of the book. (real talk: it is straight up nuts–pun sincerely unintended–that Erica has produced 17 issues of Squirrel Girl, 4 issues of Jughead, and this entire friggin’ graphic novel in 2015 and 2016 alone. That’s a ton, and she colored the graphic novel, too.)
Regina Spektor’s new album Remember Us to Life is out, and is really good. I think the first single, “Bleeding Heart,” is still my fave, but “Small Bill$” is also great. Tycho’s new album Epoch, is chill and great. I’m loving The Weeknd’s “False Alarm” and WHOA HEY NEW SLEIGH BELLS SINGLE!
I watched last year’s Dope, which is now on Netflix. It was rocky at moments, but largely super fun. It was written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, who’s directing DC’s Flash movie, and got me legit excited for it. Don Hertzfeldt’s Oscar-nominated short “World of Tomorrow” is also on Netflix, and I highly recommend it. It features a clone from the future contacting the person she was cloned from in the past, when the prime is still a little girl.
I’m replaying the Ace Attorney game Duel Destinies, and it is as delightful, dramatic, and bizarre as I remembered it being. If you’ve never played an Ace Attorney game, I cannot recommend them highly enough. A bunch have been ported to iOS, and are available in the app store! They’re so wonderful, and so very inaccurate.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Fics I Shouted About
untitled by ladydrace Teen Wolf, Sterek, reality show AU. Stiles goes on a dating show because he’s poor and bored, but celebrity bachelor Derek seems to genuinely like him.
Carrots by rispacooper Check Please!, Nursey/Dex. Dex just doesn’t understand Nursey. Even kissing him, he’s waiting for the other shoe, the punchline. This fic opens with a quote from Anne of Green Gables, which is perfect for these two.
This House Unfinished by boyghosts Voltron, Keith/Lance, post-S1. This is an odd fic, sprawling and told in snippets of scenes. It doesn’t end with a happily-ever-after, but it does leave you in a happy place. I love the Keith/Lance stuff, and I also love the universe building it does, which addresses the question of what everyone else was doing during the 10,000 years Voltron was absent.
untitled by parrishsrubberplant Check Please!, Farmer/Chowder. How Caitlin and Chris met. What I love about this fic is how THIRSTY Caitlin is, and how frank and honest they are with one another.
Definitely Good Weird by withpractice_ff Ace Attorney, Apollo & Trucy, post-Apollo Justice. Apollo and Trucy discussing what their family looks like now.
under a sky we made by mlle Check Please!, Lardo/Shitty. Lardo gets through finals week. Shitty helps.
untitled by pantstomatch Teen Wolf, Sterek, shifter AU. Stiles is a were-rabbit who moves in next door to a werewolf. Derek puts up with him, but his pack is another thing. This was really sweet?? I loved Stiles’ manic burrowing.
simply wicked to a tee by misandrywitch Check Please!, Lardo/Shitty, missing scene. What Lardo and Shitty were up to just prior to Junior Year #11.
Idiot (derek nurse, spoken word, 2016) by Euphorian Check Please!, Nursey/Dex, fake dating AU. Dex is trans but not out to his family, so in order to sell the lie a little bit, Nursey offers to go home with him for Thanksgiving.
Lastly
I love Sara Duvall’s Space Prince Finn drawings, which culminated this week with Finn in versions of each of Leia’s outfits from the original trilogy. Here he is in my two faves from Empire:
A friend of mine went to Iceland and brought back a book of MAGIC SPELLS for another friend, and I immediately stole it so I could take photos. It’s called Sorcerer’s Screed and if you’d like to know the runes necessary to see a ghost or make a person stick to their horse, for example, you can buy the book here.
So much for a “smallish” newsletter, huh? Anyway, goodbye
