October 25, 2024

The Rec Center #460

Hello all! This week we have articles about Beatles fandom and Redbox DVD rental kiosks, along with some topical Agatha All Along fanart, multi-fandom Halloween season fanfic recs, and much more! — Gav

 

new stuff

“The Beatles Live!” by Allegra Rosenberg at Fansplaining
Allegra (who is writing a book about historical fandom we are eagerly awaiting!!) returns to Fansplaining this week with a fantastic deep dive on modern-day classic rock fandom—the shippy, transformative kind—with a special focus on the Beatles and McLennon shippers.

“Redbox’s Last DVD: ‘Twister’ Is Unrentable in Remaining Redbox Kiosks and No One Knows Why” by Jason Koebler at 404 Media
Last week, 404 Media reported on “Redbox tinkerers” who are collecting these defunct DVD rental kiosks from grocery stores etc to reverse engineer them and release the DVDs within. In this incredible follow-up, it seems that just one DVD cannot be liberated from any Redbox kiosk: 1996’s Twister.

“‘Good Omens’ Season 3 to Consist of One 90-Minute Episode, Neil Gaiman Not Involved in Production” by Joe Otterson at Variety
Following Neil Gaiman’s sexual assault allegations, Amazon has scrapped his plans for Good Omens’ six-episode final season, which was already in pre-production. (The new writer is yet to be announced.)

 

 

older stuff

“Winter of Content” by Kevin Nguyen at The Verge
“For a crucial decade in print media’s transition to the internet, HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones was a boon in traffic… for everyone. But what happened when every publication started chasing the same thing?”

 

tumblr & beyond

Agatha All Along fanart by enaoneil

“Had a dream there was a new six hour long HBomberGuy video that starts with him trying to debunk Daniel Molloys novel ‘Interview With The Vampire’...”

Check out this stunning red carpet cosplay from the Venom 3 premiere!

Rediscovering the origins of the 5+1 fanfic format.

reminder of why White Collar is an all-time OT3 show.

an entirely valid reaction to Spock beaming down to present-day Earth.

 

fanfiction

Our final set of spooky recs for the last Friday in October are things specifically tagged “Halloween,” as well as horror, ghosts, etc. Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth

“This is Halloween” by swing_set13. 4.6K words, rated Gen.
Fandoms: MTV Teen Wolf, Nightmare Before Christmas; Ship: Derek/Stiles
Recced by: TeamTurnip
Backstory: This truly silly AU is goofy and fun and uses nearly no canon elements from Teen Wolf other than the fact that Stiles is clumsy, and Derek has infinite hearts eyes for him.
Rec: I love a one off comedy mash-up and this fic is one I love to revisit for spooky season! Cute, fluffy fun (and the treat you need if you, like me, were truly in the trenches for every season of MTV’s Teen Wolf).
Content warnings: N/A

“furnace room lullaby” by fringecity. 15K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: BTS/Bangtan Sonyeondan; Ship: Kim Taehyung/Park Jimin
Recced by: Nat
Backstory: After he and Jimin move to the fanciest new address in the city, Taehyung begins to see strange things even in the brightest of light.
Rec: Some of the best horror—it’s full of creepy crawly things while also delving into reflections on love and grief.
Content warnings: N/A

“Where the Light Doesn’t Reach” by rosegardenlake. 230K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender; Ship: Keith/Shiro
Recced by: deadlydelicious
Backstory: High school AU that feels heavily inspired by the 2007 film The Invisible. When football star Takashi Shirogane disappears one night, the whole town quickly assumes he was murdered, but when Keith Kogane starts seeing Shiro’s ghost he realises there may be more to Shiro’s disappearance than meets the eye.
Rec: I remember being hooked to this story as it was coming out. It has the perfect mix of wistful unrequited love, addicting mystery, and some legitimately scary moments as the two characters grapple with the mysterious supernatural circumstance they find themselves in.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, dismemberment, character death, strangulation, blood and gore, permanent injury

“love & magic (if the music is good)” by ipretendtobesane. 2.5K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: 9-1-1 TV; Ship: Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Recced by: buddieboos
Backstory: Buck and Eddie work together as firefighters, they are each other’s best friend, and are practically co-parenting Eddie’s son. In this story Buck and his sister Maddie are also witches! This is an accepted fact of the universe and not a secret, but Buck gives it his personal chaotic twist.
Rec: One of my favourite tropes is when someone is expected to act in love for whatever reason and just... nothing actually changes. Because obviously that’s how they always behaved. This nails that and adds some seasonal spookiness and fluff!
Content warnings: N/A

“Integrity of Form” by myxomatonen. 26K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Call of Duty (Video Games); Ship: John “Soap” MacTavish/Simon “Ghost” Riley
Recced by: Nat1es
Backstory: John and Simon learn to navigate civilian life after an incident that leaves then physically and mentally injured. From the summary: “In that shuddering gasp between stability and unimaginable force, a glance shared with another man—all those conversations you wanted to have but didn’t, all that useless yearning directed at nothing—his hand instinctively presses to the front of your kit in a pale echo of wish, of a boy’s last cry for his mother. Or a pat for a job well done; an impotent display of brotherhood at the edge of reality.”
Rec: This is a forced-retirement fic steeped in childhood, psychosis and haunted spirits. It doesn’t require any prior knowledge of the characters or universe—Simon and John are meticulously taken apart and examined in this one, and it is both heartwrenching and impressive.
Content warnings: Gore, internalized homophobia, PTSD

“the field meets the wood” by astronicht, podfic read by Jellyfishfire. 7.7K words/50 minutes, rated Teen.
Fandom: MDZS/The Untamed; Ship: WangXian (Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian)
Recced by: kisahawklin
Backstory: When Lan Wangji gets cursed and kidnapped, Wei Wuxian must save him.
Rec: Reccing the podfic here; the story is amazing but the podfic brings it to a whole other level. The soundscaping is amazing and the read lends itself so much to the horror vibes. Impeccable story impeccably read.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence

“ABERRATION” by chernobrough. 328 tweets, rated Mature.
Fandom: It (Stephen King novel/Muschietti films); Ships: Richie/Eddie, Bill/Mike, Stan/Patty, Ben/Beverly
Recced by: gem
Backstory: An AU that sets the main characters from It as 80s sitcom actors and adjacent showbiz types. However this fic is not a sitcom; it’s a media fic/outsider POV set 50 years later, about YouTubers who acquire the old tapes of the show and start to experience strange things… like the ghosts of the actors, trying to find peace.
Rec: Reading this in the dark before bed gave me some chills and then made me cry as the author makes expert use of a wide variety of mediums to tell a lovely story of family, grief, and healing. The attention to detail that went into creating this fic is exquisite, and it’s one of those stories that I just can’t put down once I’ve started.
Content warnings: Major character death, loss of parents, suicide, grief, complicated family relationships, some sexual content

 

 

FINAL THOUGHT

A follow-up from a few weeks back, when we shared the Marvel Trumps Hate call for participants—you can now bid on said participants, but only for just one more day! There are a ton of folks participating with a wide variety of offerings that go a far beyond fic/fanart—including betaing, fanbinding, and more—so if you’re in a Marvel fandom, check it out ASAP! — Elizabeth