the night has a thousand saxaphones

So basically I just crave good meaty thinky discussion of TV, from people who care about narrative and character and FEELS. And the thing is – where does one get that, outside of dreamwidth? There must be places, but occasional isolated snippets on facebook and the comments section of the AV Club just Do Not Cut It.

1. All the Feels about Doctor Who. So much potential in Capaldi, and Clara is so wonderful now that she’s being treated seriously as a character, and so much potential in Danny Pink (and his status as a soldier and all of the self-loathing, lack-of-self-awareness Issues that this doctor has). And the way they dealt with the Doctor’s age managed to be very meta without tipping into the expected misogyny against the fanbase was a nice surprise.

This season has seen pretty much the best concept ever, even if execution was slack (Time Heist) and one of the all-time good episodes (Listen). But then... this Kill the Moon thing. I don't even know. Deeply conflicted, too many feels, head spinning, cannot sort through them, except that I am sure that at the end there I want to stand up and cheer for Clara. Where are all the crunchy Dr. Who reaction posts? Who’s got some?

2. Similarly All the Feels about Transparent. It’s really quite extraordinary, and the thing that makes it truly amazing is that it’s not just a drama about early transition or a show to educate people about trans folks. It’s way more twisty and interesting than that, and Maura manages to be the calm (and slyly hilarious) center of her fascinatingly screwed-up family. All the reactions I’ve seen to it outside the fandom space are all social-justice-y and “yaay for representation” and “yaay for centering the experience of a trans person” and that’s all good and necessary and stuff, but it’s a boring take on a captivating show. How much more eager would people be to watch this if promotion of it was less “Here, a show about a marginalized person, take your medicine and watch it” and more “This is a surreal and thinky and screamingly funny show about a tight-knit family that is severely dysfunctional in entertaining ways”?

3. Am re-watching Gilmore Girls like every other human being on the planet, apparently, because yaay Netflix. Conclusion: I am now significantly closer in age to Lorelai than Rory, and reacting to their stories accordingly. This is terrifying.

SOMEBODY passed the bar.

I LOVED that.

Everything about Coulson worked for me- the Tahiti jokes, setting up a mystery with him, letting Skye interrogate Ward. All good. It does read a lot like they've been reading Coulson fanfic, yes. (Except that in the fanfic Hawkeye would have found out he was back in the land of the living and would be refusing to leave his side.)

Fitz-Simmons has a lot of potential. Sure, they're no McKay-Zelenka, but they'll have a way more prominent role than the McKay-Zelenka dynamic did (the wonder of that relationship, honestly, existed more in the fanon than in the show). And yeah, they feel pretty Torchwood-y, but I'm okay with that.

I am totally on board with the criticism of the handling of Mike, and I do hope he's a recurring.

I mostly loved it as much as I did, I think, because it gave me the sense of a thing that has been missing from my TV (I mean, from presently-airing shows) for a while- since SGA went off air, actually. It's a currently airing SF show that gave me the sense of a big expansive universe full of possibilities, with a core team of characters who I think I could get really attached to and want to just hang out with. I just haven't found one of those since SGA, so I'm really excited.

P.S. giandujakiss on Skye.

GOT rec: They Will Crown You, They Will Take Your Legs by netgirl_y2k.

This is 2k of Dany/Doreah, which I found because the author posted a commentary on it and author commentaries are like crack (Filling like meta! Tasty like fic!).

It's amazing for being very emotionally complicated in a very short fic, and for exactly hitting the notes of Dany complexity that I like and that I am on tenderhooks hoping the show does well enough. Doreah's enslavement just permeates the fic, and one of the best complex/interesting/infuriating things about Dany is that she does not understand slavery as well as she thinks she does; that she has co-opted that narrative as her own, and does not actually see slaves clearly as people or slavery clearly as an institution because she has made it All About Her. Which is interesting, and the books did it well.

I did it. It is done and I have done it. Dear God please let me not have to do that again.

I wouldn't wish the entire process on my worst enemy.

Studying for the bar not only makes you crazy, it also makes you really really boring to talk to or be around. I apologize.

Five thousand bar takers in New York City. Have never felt so much like a head of cattle in my life.

You'd think a convention center in Manhattan would be better at crowd control.

Five thousand people taking a six-hour long test with one very short, strictly enforced lunch break... is like an illustration of potty parity. I know a couple girls who spent their entire lunch breaks in line.

On much the same note, the cab stand basically looked like the Hunger Games.

On day two, when I finished the morning a bit early, I actually had a really good lunch. I walked up to the Empire State Building, and got cart hotdogs, and walked back down to the Hudson River Park and wandered around, and sat and ate watching the water. And then walked to the subway afterward and went past my favorite subway art. I know other people love their cities- really, I do, I know I'm not the only person in the world who loves her city- but sometimes it just blows me away that I'm lucky enough to live here.

Perhaps the oddest thing about the entire damn experience is how NICE people are to you. Everybody taking the bar is identified by a bright green wristband. You see anybody you recognize in a wristband? "Hey! Good luck! You're doing great!" Anybody recognizes you in a line? "Hey! Almost over, hang in there!" The proctor, walking down the row and getting us all to sign in? "You guys are doing so good, you're almost done!" The guy behind me in line at Subway? "Hey, you're taking the bar? My aunt took it a couple years ago. My aunt's kind of a moron, so if she can pass you definitely will. Good luck!" Random people on the street? "Hey, you're one of the bar people- chin up! You can do it!" A woman in a flight attendant uniform going to the airport shuttle stopped when we were in line to tell us her son was taking it in California right now, and then she went down the line pointing at each person individually yelling "You're going to pass! And you're doing to pass! And you're going to pass!" until the shuttle honked. Seriously, I had no idea this was such a cultural Thing. Probably never again in my life will so many random strangers be so nice to me on one day.

And yet, despite everybody being REALLY nice, and the fact that I had wine and cake waiting for me at home, I still don't want to do it again.

Nest up: major medical shit, giant fights about money, job I am in no way prepared for. This couple month stretch is shaping up extraordinarily unpleasant.

What I knew about Evidence 24 hours ago: There’s something called hearsay, and that’s no good.

24 hours later… I don’t even know that. (This is a lie; I’m also good on FRE 702 and Daubert. As long as every evidence question is about expert testimony, I’ll pass! What do you suppose my chances are?)

( Vid rec. Seriously, this vid is amazing. )

And so I watched it a bunch of times today, because it’s one of those examples of beauty and meaning and resonance from the most unexpected direction, and I am always so grateful when a fan-creator blindsides me that way.

So. I went away due to law school, and I stayed away for too long. And then when I realized I needed to find an online community again, I found one that ended up being really psychologically not healthy for me. And so here I am, I guess, going… take me back? Please?

1. What can I be watching/obsessing about that has a good fandom right now?

2. Where is the action? Lots of things I liked are dead now and I’m just feeling a little bit… lost. Like, Sweet Charity is dead- where are the actions now? Are kinkmemes still a thing? I don’t even.

3. Is it possible to be all fannishly participatory on DW/LJ/AO3 alone, or am I now required to have a tumblr? Or is it something else entirely that I am too old and stupid now to know about?

4. Fandom specific
a. Oh my god did I have Strong Feelings about IM3. I'm weeks too late, but... it didn't leave much room for the Avengers fandom to breathe, did it?
b. My Little Ponies: This is a thing, right? I love the art on equestriadaily, but are there specific coms or people I should be following here for MLP?
c. Who are the big name people I should be reading for Game of Thrones, and/or where are the best recs?
d. Does anybody other than me care about The Borgias?

I feel so lost. It’s like when I first discovered fandom proper and have no idea how the hell to start, but now it’s sad because I used to. I will basically never have the time again that I did before but I am worse without a lot of those fannish habits so I need to figure out new ones I do have time for.


( Life )

Apparently Jews wear costumes to celebrate Purim. I did not know this.

It's not so notable that there is a Jewish holiday that involves costumes. Nor is it notable that on such a holiday, the New York subways would be full of Jews in costumes.

What is notable is that yesterday afternoon I got on a subway car packed to the gills with Orthodox men wearing neon clown costumes with tzitzis hanging out and jester hats attached with little kippah clips, and my reaction was basically "look, another Thursday." Oh, New York.

Oh, hey, queer girls: Jennifer Morrison cares about us and wants us to be happy.