The Rec Center #279
Hi folks, this week we’ve got articles about fictional rock bands and Tom Holland’s famous “Umbrella” performance, some amazing Word of Honor fanart, a grab-bag of multifandom fic recs, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“Break-ups, porn, and bakas: The legend of the Barnes & Noble manga section” by Ana Diaz at Polygon
“What if we kissed in the manga section of Barnes & Noble.” Recollections of a very special area in your local B&N.
“Making the (Fictional) Band” by Ilana Kaplan at The Ringer
Conversations with the creators of some famous fake bands with fanbases that lived on long past their fictional creations.
“Why Star Wars Fans Are Concerned About The Bad Batch and Whitewashing” by James Whitbrook at io9
The new animated Star Wars show The Bad Batch is earning a lot of hype, but it also lightens the skin tone of several established characters. This article looks into what happened.
“An oral history of Tom Holland’s sensational ‘Lip Sync Battle’ performance” by Ashley Spencer at Insider
Given how often this legendary performance gets retweeted on our feeds, we’re pretty sure a lot of you are going to want to read this.
samwise gamgee just came over to frodo’s house to get high, and possibly laid, and instead ends up havimg to go.on a thousand mile hike and fight everyone in the entire world
older stuff
“It’s OK to Have the Hots for Baseball Players: A Manifesto” by Stacey May Fowles at Vice
“Sports culture can’t reconcile female desire with knowledge, so if you’re admiring the finer points of Josh Donaldson’s unstoppable swagger—his ‘liquid hot sexual gold,’ as certain aficionados have been known to call it—you can’t possibly understand the mechanics of his MVP-worthy work at third base.”
tumblr & beyond
Word of Honor fanart by Lin (Instagram/Twitter)
Sherlock Holmes blackout poetry!
HD illustrations of Newt Geiszler’s kaiju tattoos from Pacific Rim.
Alignment square for different interpretations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s name.
Vintage VHS covers inspired by MCU films.
Gillian Anderson inspires total Beatlemania while touring Australian shopping malls in 1996.
“What The Fuck Did I Just Watch For You: a memoir by a fan of actors with terrible filmographies”
Darmok AND Jalad? In THIS Tanagra?!?
fanfiction
Just a grab-bag this week! Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Kings of the Air” by FabulaRasa. 25K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Top Gun; Ship: Maverick/Iceman
Recced by: queer-mac
Backstory: Ice and Maverick, post-Goose. It’s life-changingly good.
Rec: Basically, I will never been able to think of either character apart from this story again. This is who they are now, the movie has become a particularly well-budgeted fan vid.
Content warnings: Violence, homophobia
“Invisible String” by firbolg_boyfriends. 8K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Old Guard; Ship: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Recced by: anon
Backstory: I love this ship for the sheer breadth of canon to work with—everything from enemies to lovers to an established relationship centuries long.
Rec: History, poetry, and romance—a glimpse at the long history of Joe and Nicky’s relationship.
Content warnings: References to (temporary) character death
“Boston Marriage” by Jae. 5.4K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Gilmore Girls; Ship: Paris/Rory
Recced by: Set
Backstory: Paris woos Rory with PowerPoint presentations and marginalia, in true Paris fashion.
Rec: This is just so very charming! The voices are pitch-perfect, Rory is adorably oblivious, and Paris does not know the first thing about successful wooing.
Content warnings: N/A
“there is no reason to keep the mask” by Dudavocado. 1.9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Inheritance Trilogy; Ship: Itempas/Nahadoth/Yeine Darr Arameri
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance books are all about gods and mortals and the uncomfortable ways those things bleed together.
Rec: Yeine ponders the ways in which her own personal melding of humanity and godhead work for her, and how they change her experience of existence. It’s a spare and lovely fic.
Content warnings: N/A
“You’re All I’ve Ever Dreamed Of” by MJ1Hawk. 38K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Marvel Comics; Ship: Carol Danvers/Jessica Drew
Recced by: Paracelsus
Backstory: Captain Marvel and Jessica Drew have always had a very close bond in the books and lots of Marvel Comics fans ship them; this story is set in the comics universe and explores their bond turning to romance organically.
Rec: The dialogue is very natural and the characterization is excellent.
Content warnings: N/A
And a vid!
“I’m Not Your Hero - Murderbot Diaries Animatic” by mar. 3:57, not rated.
Fandom: Murderbot Diaries; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Alex
Backstory: Murderbot Diaries is a book series about an AI construct (i.e. cyborg) that gains sentience, hacks its governor module, and mostly uses its freedom to watch soap operas and other serials. It is awkward around humans and has to learn how to handle its own emotions.
Rec: This fanvid is AMAZING—the creator brought Murderbot and the other characters to life with amazing fanart and an excellent song choice to highlight the major themes of the books.
Content warnings: “blood, guns, scopophobia, slight body horror and injuries (toned down in comparison to the books)”
fuck it, i’m all in
FINAL THOUGHT
A few calls for recs to round out this week’s letter!
1) We got a couple of submissions last week, but we’re still soliciting fic for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so we can do a full list! Please send us your favorites.
2) Pre-Femslash February, we asked for fic that centered nonbinary/genderqueer characters in addition to f/f for a post-February list. We didn’t get enough submissions for a full list, but we’d really love to run one, so please continue to send them our way!
3) Pacific Rim AUs! Or rather, Pacific Rim fusions—fics that take the concept/world of Pacific Rim and insert other characters into them. (Of course we’ll take all your Pacific Rim fic, too. :-))
As always, please use our submission form and let us know what you’re submitting for in the tropes/themes field. — Elizabeth