i know most of you are not ghosts
yo yo yo
First thing first: have you watched the Rogue One trailer? Please do that. I’ll wait.
Done? Cool. We can move on.
I went to New York! Again! This time, I did not see Hamilton (sob), but I did see two awesome internet strangers!
One of the great delights of my adult life as a person on the internet is that some of my closest friends now are people who I’ve never met and who live literally on the other side of the world. When two of these folks told me they were coming to New York, I was ready and willing to hop on a train for the chance to spend the day with them wandering around Coney Island. It was absolutely worth the trip.
I also spent an afternoon walking in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn with another friend. I love parks and I love mausoleums, so Green-Wood is pretty much the place to be.
Notable Breakfast
I had the opportunity to stop into Bosie Tea Parlor for a small pot and a scone. Their Earl Grey Creme is my very favourite tea.
Dog Thing
Mixed Media
I love Sleepy Hollow. It has everything: platonic partners who always have each other’s backs, fantastic racial diversity in its cast, a ton of awesome ladies, heart, humor, and monsters. What else do you need, honestly?
When the show started, it was heavily about the sorts of things you would expect from a show called “Sleepy Hollow.” There was Ichabod Crane, a headless horseman, etc. It’s moved away from that a bit, but it’s still about fighting evil.
Sleepy Hollow is at its best when it leans into two things: Ichabod adapting to the 21st century, and his relationship with his partner, Abbie Mills. The chemistry between the two leads is fantastic, whether you want them to kiss or not (I do, badly).
They’ve constructed a really lovely, often silly, universe. Ichabod and Abbie have their own crew of Scoobies, and their own equivalent of Giles’ library. The show has also flipped some tropes around, in a satisfying way. The women are the tactical experts, with Abbie and Sophia in law enforcement, and Abbie’s sister Jenny a thief. If anyone is going to bring a bazooka to a knife fight, it’ll be her. Ichabod is the research guy, and then there’s Joe, an EMT.
The men on this show nearly always defer to the women–which, due to its cast, means that you’ve got white dudes deferring to women of color in every single episode. No exaggeration, it is the actual best thing.
The show’s season finale is tonight, and I am hoping against hope it gets renewed. It brings me such joy.
Also:
I started rewatching Stargate: Atlantis, which if you’ve been around these parts since the beginning, you might remember is my favourite tv show ever. (Side note: I learned about this tumblr today, which is part SGA aesthetic blog, and part updates-from-the-Pegasus-galaxy. I adore it.) I started watching Dark Matter, which I’m largely enjoying so far. Season 1 is on Netflix.
I read Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman, which had some frustrating bits, but the ending was satisfying enough to balance them out. I read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, and I loved it. I had seen it compared to Mass Effect, but more specifically I’d say it had the best parts of both Mass Effect 2 (another throwback fave) and Firefly. I read The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks, a book I had been eagerly anticipating, and completely loved. It’ll be a trilogy in all, and is off to a great start.
I listened to the Sleigh Bells album Bitter Rivals a whole bunch while I was traveling. I also revisited Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues, which is still the best.
I Read Comics for a Living
If you are in any way a part of the comics community, then you’ve heard about the new Black Panther. Black Panther #1 is a masterful achievement in comics. That this is Ta-Nehesi Coates’ first comic is incredible, because his ease with pacing and language–often a difficult transition for prose writers to make–is effortless. He introduces several plots, but the comic never feels crowded or overly wordy. Brian Stelfreeze’s art is perfect–his Afro-futurist Wakanda feels more real than Spider-man’s New York City. These panels, in particular, I loved:
If you can get a copy of this issue, do. This is a moment in comics people will be talking about for a long time.
Also good:
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #5 Lunella is trying to pass herself off as a regular kid, but she can only pretend so much. This issue has the dramatic Devil Dino rescue I was waiting for.
Mirror #2 As great as the first issue was, this one was better. I love the way they’re introducing this world to us.
Star Wars Poe Dameron #1 tells the story of how Poe tracked down Lor San Tekka, the man he’s with at the beginning of The Force Awakens. It also features both Jess Pava and Karé Kun, so I was thrilled.
Batgirl #50 brings both the recent arc and the Babs of Burnside relaunch team’s time on the comic to a close, and both go out with a bang. This issue got me really excited for the upcoming Birds of Prey book.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Topshop Super Soft Jumper & Jogger
Fics I Shouted About
Cold by LtLJ Stargate Atlantis, team fic. I stumbled across a treasure trove of team-on-mission fics and then I basically drowned in them. This is one of my faves, a little fic about Atlantis Recon 1 hiding in a cave.
Shut Up and Skate With Me by littledust Check Please!, Lardo/Shitty. Lardo is terrible on ice skates. Shitty makes her do it anyway, and they both confront what graduation will mean. I LOVED THIS.
Retrograde series by LtLJ Stargate Atlantis/Stargate SG-1, AU. This sprawling series tells an AU story where the Trust got to Atlantis before Stargate Command did. It’s stranded-in-the-Pegasus taken to an extreme, and I loved it. The last part, posted recently, is a Leverage crossover, and truly great.
Lastly
Tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of this newsletter! In honor of this birthday, here are a few of my favourite newsletters to receive:
Gilt Trip At its heart it’s about jewelry, but it’s recently grown to include Alex’s opinions about many other things. Alex’s taste is impeccable, and her voice is a joy to read.
Internet Explorers Club Emily finds the greatest, weirdest, most delightful things on the internet. If ever I tell you guys to check out a cool article, chances are I heard about it from her first.
The Rec Center Elizabeth and Gav treat fandom like it’s a place to live, and The Rec Center features a curated collection of commentary, memes, and fic recs, each week on a different theme. Even if I’m not a fan of a topic, I always learn something from them.
This week’s work Rebecca Onion is a writer for Slate, and this is a round up of the things she’s read and written in a week, often relating to history and ephemera, two of my favourite subjects.
Anyway, I honestly never thought I’d make it this far. Thanks for sticking with me, y’all.
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