Month in Review: January 2022

[elenothar]

As part of my attempt to post a little more on here, I've decided I'm going to keep track of my media consumption and fandom activitied in monthly posts. If it's just once a month, maybe I'll a) have things to say and b) not procrastinate too much...

TV & Movies

I watched Blade Runner and Gattaca for teaching reasons - both films were quite well done, but I have zero intention to rewatch either, nor did I much enjoy watching them. Dystopias aren't my thing, and Blade Runner was quite gory (by my whimpy standards) on top of that.

TV-wise, I'm watching two Lost Tomb shows in watchalongs: Lost Tomb Reboot as a rewatch and Lost Tomb 2 for the first time with eirenical. Also the occasional episode of Nirvana in Fire with trickytricky (also a rewatch).

On my own, I spent most of the month bouncing off of various cdramas - I got about four eps into Luoyang before giving up and watched one ep of Rainless Love in a Godless Land. Both good shows, by several people's accounts, but neither gripped me enough to keep watching.

Books

I'm reading much fewer published books than I used to these days, courtesy of fanfic, but I did finish a couple in January. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr (also for teaching), Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (very good - might do a rec post for it separately), and I'm most of the way through Nghi Vo's novella Empress of Salt and Fortune, which I'm also enjoying so far.

Fandom activities

I signed up for this year's Guardian Bingo, which netted me a fun card full of prompts that I may or may not ever get to.

I only posted one fic in January:

Intelligible (Guardian, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, 11k)

Tags: Character Study, Languages and Linguistics, trying to make sense of 10k years of language development, Friendship, Worldbuilding, an important tree, language teaching, Fluff and Angst, Post-Canon

Summary: Shen Wei's relationship to language has always been complicated, and grows all the more so ten thousand years in the future.

...Basically, it continues my unofficial 'love letters to Shen Wei' series with added 'love letter to linguistics'. Topics quite dear to my heart, what can I say.

Comments

[presumenothing]

Yay for posting! And double yay for NIF rewatch, though I've only engaged in it secondhand by laughing and/or having general emotions at hunxi-after-hours's rewatch posts of it.

Also "trying to make sense of 10k years of language development" is a tag that should be on more fics (I say, while writing absolutely none of them).

[clevermanka]

Blade Runner is a favorite of mine (despite its many problems) but I'm a GenX/Cold War kid and I think that had a significant effect on my ability to be entertained by grim futures. I've seen a few Shen Wei as android stories but I can't believe we don't (yet?) have a straight-up Blade Runner AU yet. Hm.

Best wishes on the posting-more goal!

[velithya]

I've seen both Blade Runner and Gattaca once each and they were... fine? They were fine, their messages are important, but they aren't the kind of films I would seek out for a re-watch at any point either.

& I'm so glad you finally posted your language fic!!

[tinny]

Blade Runner is one of my faves, but on rewatch all the needless violence - and particularly the sexual violence - is just... um, well, needless. I still love the atmosphere and the soundtrack. Give me movie in which it rains *all the time* ... any time. (I see my grammar is not the best today.)

I still think of Gattacca a lot, too. I didn't really like the movie much when I saw it ages ago, and have never rewatched. I don't believe it is even remotely possible to keep your environment dna-free the way he did it in the movie, and unfortunately I am reminded of that every time I look at a computer keyboard (i.e. every day). So... um, that certainly left a life-long impression. /o\


Topics quite dear to my heart, what can I say.

And for good reason. <3

[nnozomi]

I'm watching two Lost Tomb shows in watchalongs: Lost Tomb Reboot as a rewatch and Lost Tomb 2 for the first time with [personal profile] eirenical.
ha, it's not as if even one Lost Tomb show at a time is hard enough to keep track of!

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (very good - might do a rec post for it separately)
Really curious to hear about this one.

Basically, it continues my unofficial 'love letters to Shen Wei' series with added 'love letter to linguistics'. Topics quite dear to my heart, what can I say.
and mine, and it's such a lovely fic <3