The Rec Center #394
Greetings from an extremely interesting (and still ridiculous) San Diego Comic-Con! I’ll be reporting back about the ~vibes~ here next week, but in the meantime, we have lots of new articles this week, Nimona fanart, and an unthemed grab-bag of fanfiction. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Why Generative AI Won’t Disrupt Books” by Elizabeth at WIRED
VCs seem to think book—and fanfiction—readers are desperate for AI to utterly change written prose, but this is just another installment in the long history of tech trying to “fix” what isn’t broken.
“The untold history of Barbie Fashion Designer, the first mass-market ‘game for girls’” by Nicole Carpenter at Polygon
A deep dive into the iconic game, from the technical challenges of designing and building it to its legacy for women and video games.
“AO3 was offline a week ago, but there’s still a fandom brewing in the Downdetector comments” by Amanda Silberling at TechCrunch
People are still writing fic in the Downdetector comments section—there are more than 100K comments for AO3 there now, compared to a few thousand for Facebook and a few hundred for Google.
“Film reviews, fanfic, and cosplay don’t qualify as ‘crossing the picket line’ during the Hollywood strike” by Gav at the Daily Dot
There’s been a lot of confusion this week over how to support the writers’ and actors’ strikes—especially in fandom. According to SAG-AFTRA’s guidelines though, most fannish activity is irrelevant to the debate around scabbing and picket-crossing.
Now that actors can’t do promo interviews that young man is going to have to eat all those spicy chicken wings alone.
— Felipe Torres Medina 🪧 ON STRIKE 🚫✏️ (@felipetmedinaa) July 18, 2023
older stuff
“We Tried To Uncover The Long-Lost ‘American Sailor Moon’ And Found Something Incredible” by Cecilia D’Anastasio at Kotaku
“After speaking with the dead show’s creator, animator, biggest fans, and haters, I think I have finally uncovered the full history of anime’s white whale.”
tumblr & beyond
Nimona fanart by danikatze
an important ethical distinction.
a fantastic meta take on the Supernatural newsdump meme.
“seeing a mashup name of three pieces of media with doctor who in the middle actually gave me war flashbacks”
fanfiction
An unthemed grab-bag this week! Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“into the spotlight” by indomitablelove. 41K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Red, White and Royal Blue; Ship: Alex/Henry, background June/Nora
Recced by: anon
Backstory: An AU where Henry is still royalty and Alex is, well, whatever Alex is, but in Hollywood. The fic follows a similar arc to the book.
Rec: The author is masterful at calling back to canon, using names, places, phrases, dialogue and situations in imaginatively different ways to advance the plot. And Alex and Henry are still loveable and clueless.
Content warnings: Homophobia, Internalized homophobia, being outed
“to make a life” by gone_girl. 54K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Black Sails; Ships: Anne Bonny/Max, Max & John Silver
Recced by: suzalooz
Backstory: Modern AU where Max is a real estate agent trying to get her life together after splitting up with Eleanor. The plot jumps between 1999 and 2002 and focuses on Max and her burgeoning career and her relationships.
Rec: So much Black Sails fic lavishes attention on Silver and Flint—and I love them too—but I was so happy to see Max get some attention in a realistic contemporary setting that deals with her career and relationships and some of the underlying capitalist and colonial themes that are so present in the TV series.
Content warnings: Drug use (recreational), drug abuse (not a big part of the fic), child abuse (not a big part of the fic)
“Golden Handcuffs” by seekwill. 71K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Good Omens; Ship: Aziraphale/Crowley, background Anathema/Newt
Recced by: queuest
Backstory: AU set at a quaint little college in the countryside where Aziraphale is a longtime religious studies professor and Crowley is the new Botany adjunct.
Rec: I love Aziraphale’s soft dom characterization in this that unlocks something in Crowley. The relationship dynamic here is a delight, and so is the background references to students gossip about their most eccentric professors.
Content warnings: Some homophobia
“come take it out on me” by makeawish. 26K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: SHINee; Ship: Choi Minho/Kim Kibum
Recced by: anon
Backstory: K-pop RPF. Minho and Key of SHINee are so well known for their 15-year bickering friendship that they’re nicknamed “old married couple” by Korean network TV. This fic plays up their differences and the conflict and turns them into enemies with benefits who don’t get along but just can’t keep their hands off each other.
Rec: This fic is so well written and scorchingly hot, and an amazing character study of people who know each other just a bit too well but still not well enough to realize how much they love each other… yet.
Content warnings: N/A
“These Gifts That You Have Given Me” by thearrogantemu. 114K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: The Silmarillion/The Lord of the Rings; Ship: Sauron/Celebrimbor
Recced by: Jim
Backstory: Back in the day, before Sauron was a flaming eye, he arrived at an elf city claiming to want to give them hidden knowledge. Celebrimbor welcomes him, and they become very close and eventually forge some rings.
Rec: This story (which is canon-compliant) takes the few details we do know about the forging of the rings, to tell how Celebrimbor and Sauron/Annatar grow closer before reaching the inevitable horrible ending.
Content warnings: Canonical character death, torture, violence
And a vid!
“►sana bakkoush; NO” by Sim Mallec. 1:45, rated Teen.
Fandom: SKAM; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Ingwer
Backstory: SKAM is a TV series about Norwegian teens with a group of five girls at its centre. They navigate all kinds of topics, friendship, harassment, everyday racism, sexism, what it means to be in love, body image.
Rec: Sana Bakkoush is a wonderful character, fierce and direct, thoughtful, with a great sense of humour. (If you are especially interested in her, she is the main character of season 4.)
Content warnings: N/A
girl dinner? oh do you mean the show yellowjackets
— Kristen Arnett (@Kristen_Arnett) July 17, 2023
FINAL THOUGHT
That’s all, folks! See you on the other side of Barbenheimer Weekend. — Gav