The Rec Center #276
Hi folks! This week we’ve got a hyper-specific LOTR oral history interview, a post about K-pop sign language interpretation, some cute Starfire fanart, multifandom fic recs, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“A Brief History of ‘Looks Like Meat’s Back on the Menu, Boys!’ From ‘The Two Towers’” by Esther Zuckerman at Thrillist
A delightful interview with some of the Orc actors from the LOTR movies.
“Meet the Sign Language Artist Interpreting BTS Songs for Deaf Fans
” by Hyeong Yun at Vice
“I create my own choreography using sign language. The choreography contains the meaning of the lyrics, but rather than just translating it, I make a new performance by interpreting the music as I feel and add emotions to my moves.”
“Discord bans NSFW server access on iOS, sparking Apple criticism” by Ana Valens at the Daily Dot
Yet another platform is banning NSFW content, a crucial issue in many fan-adjacent spaces. This explainer was written by a tech reporter specializing in NSFW media and communities.
if siskel and ebert were on tv today they would have a thriving rpf shipping community
older stuff
“When We Mourn Paul Walker, We’re Really Mourning The Death Of Male Friendships” by Matt Thomas at Decider
Published in 2015, this article discusses the cultural impact of the Fast & Furious franchise, and why Paul Walker’s death hit differently than other celebrities.
tumblr & beyond
Starfire (DC Comics) fanart by slitheryss
Star Trek AU fanart where the Starfleet uniforms include these incredible 1970s two-tone pants.
An aggressively cool behind-the-scenes photo of Toby Schmitz from Black Sails.
LOTR characters as viral TikToks
“i just need everyone to know that there is currently discussion on how religion operates in the omega verse on tiktok” [Ed. note: If anyone’s seen any of these TikToks send ’em our way!!]
Reusing the long-time nuclear waste warning messages to warn Tumblr users about the perils of SPN fandom.
AO3 user defractum created a tabletop RPG based on MDZS/The Untamed!
fanfiction
No theme this week! Thank you so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Your War is Won” by iwillnotbecaged. 5.3K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Captain America; Ship: Sam Wilson/Steve Rogers
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Sam is getting older, but Steve is not. Steve being Steve, he’s very dramatic about it.
Rec: A lot of stories about the effects of the supersoldier serum on Cap’s aging focus on him and Bucky basically living together forever. This one looks at how Steve might react to the growing awareness that his partner isn’t going to live forever.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Sexual Implications of Teleportation” by Care. 5K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Pitch Perfect; Ship: Beca/Chloe
Recced by: cairophoenix
Backstory: For a movie that is objectively straight, Pitch Perfect (the first one) manages to be very gay. This is set after the first movie, so if you ignore the sequels and the teleportation, I guess it could be canon-compliant?
Rec: Okay, there is NO reason that “sexy teleportation” should work as a fic, and I’m convinced that Care is the only author who could possibly have taken that prompt and turned it into a heartstring-tugging, pitch-perfect (lol) getting-back-together-post-breakup fic, BUT that is exactly what she did. I love this story because it shouldn’t work and it does.
Content warnings: N/A
“When it Comes Apart (We’re Gonna Have Some Fun, Son)” by warriorpoet. 4K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Breaking Bad; Ship: Gen: Jesse Pinkman & Walter White
Recced by: Annukka
Backstory: He wishes that his brain would send another voice, another imagined face to keep him company. But, no. It’s always Jesse he sees from the corner of his eye, Jesse he hears in the ticking of his wristwatch, Jesse that goads him, prods him, pushes him with the worst things he won’t admit to himself.
Rec: So Breaking Bad is not a super popular fanfic fandom, but Walt & Jesse is my no. one popular culture duo (besides Frodo & Sam) Anyway, this fic pretty much captures everything I love about them. Which is to say Jesse Pinkman deserves so much better but I could not ask anything more.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence
“alpheratz” by rhapsodies. 19K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Naruto; Ship: Sakura/Hinata
Recced by: rythyme
Backstory: Two months after the end of the Fourth Intergalactic War, Sakura becomes the bodyguard of the Hyūga Crown Princess. The WLW space royalty AU you never knew you needed.
Rec: This story combines everything we love about the royalty/bodyguard trope with some truly excellent space opera world building all in a neat little 19K package.
Content warnings: Blood, descriptions of injuries, past fantasy warfare
“Heavens Hold the Sun” by Goblindaughter. 11K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Inheritance Trilogy; Ship: Glee/Ahad
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance series deals with what happens when a divine poly trio goes REALLY wrong.
Rec: This follows some of the truly lovely B-characters from the third book through their lives post-canon. It’s a great exploration of character and of the implications (no spoilers) of the ending of the trilogy.
Content warnings: Major character death
And finally, a video game!
“Use Your Outside Voice, Richie Tozier!” by mapurl. 1 hour, not rated.
Fandom: IT: Chapter Two; Ship: Richie/Eddie
Recced by: LJ
Backstory: This is a fan-made video game that takes place over and immediately following the events of It Chapter Two with a couple of flashbacks. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure fix-it game in which the player takes the role of Richie Tozier with the goal of preventing Eddie Kaspbrak’s death.
Rec: This is one of the most exciting, creative things I’ve ever seen in my time in fandom. In addition to the novelty and technical challenge of creating a video game (!!!) mapurl tells an amazing story that weaves together themes and motifs from the movie, is emotionally satisfying (I cried) and offers a commentary on the nature of fanworks.
Content warnings: Canon-typical homophobia, suicide, a couple jump-scares
Half of the heroes in the MCU seem to have PhDs that they’re not using. The whole franchise is a story about the academic employment crisis.
FINAL THOUGHT
A few housekeeping items to round things out this week! First off, a reader wrote in about the very long URLs in the newsletter since we migrated off TinyLetter—we really appreciate being flagged about this, and I believe I’ve turned on (off?) the correct settings to make sure that the actual URL we’re linking to appears when you hover over it!
Secondly, we’re still hearing reports of a few people not receiving the newsletter or finding it in spam folders. If this wound up in your spam folder, please mark it as “not spam” rather than just moving it or deleting it. And if someone you know hasn’t received it at all, please have them email us—we can look into it!
And finally, to my great shame after spending most of my career in digital magazine production, I misplaced a straight quote in the HTML last week and most of a fic rec was swallowed up. My apologies! Here’s the rec in full:
“a history of the body” by northofallmusic (tofsla). 13K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Untamed/Módào Zǔshī; Ship: (F/F) Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Recced by: juliethegay
Backstory: Lan Zhan lets Wei Ying use her vibrator to help with her chronic pain. From the summary: ‘A fic about the complicated nature of having a body, and also the versatility of sex toys.’
Rec: A lovely representation of life with chronic pain, who doesn’t love friends to lovers with domesticity, and the tag “Figuring Out Sex Age 35 When You Aren’t Even Inexperienced Really And Other Queer Journeys.”
Content warnings: Chronic pain from injury
Thanks so much to the folks who wrote in about all of these things!! <3 — Elizabeth