Month(s) in Review: February and March 2022

[elenothar]

Says a lot that I managed to do one monthly review post at an appropriate time before crashing and burning. Figured it'd make more sense to just shove the two months together, particularly since March was... not a great month (read: busy at work, health issues, and a death in the family), so I didn't do a lot.

First off, thanks to the kind soul who paid for an account upgrade! <3 I'm having a lot of fun with the increased icon count and am eyeing that Guardian mood theme...

TV and movies

Three movies this time (I think? The problem with doing these review posts too late is that my memory is already going again): the new Dune film (pretty and some good acting from mostly side-characters, but otherwise un-engaging), Embrace Again (surprisingly good, and to no one's surprise I liked Zhu Yilong in it), and Drum Youth, which is Zhu Yilong's first movie (? possibly? He's very baby-faced anyway) and pretty decent, though I don't much care for high school settings.

On the TV front, I'm still bouncing off of things, but I did watch Wheel of Time, which was largely enjoyable, kept up with all my watchalongs and re-watched Our Song, the Chinese music competition show of Qingshenshen fame (a comfort watch, basically).

Books

Most of Seven Years in Tibet until I got distracted, a good chunk of the Chinese classic Journey to the West (translated by Anthony C. Yu, the unabridged version), Ursula K. LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness, which was a very interesting read, and Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies, which was very vivid and well-written, but generally reminded me of why I don't often read 'literary' novels, i.e. why do they always have to be so grim. I also re-read one of my favourites, Tanya Huff's Sing the Four Quarters

Fandom activities

I signed up for the Guardian 520 exchange, which I'm very excited for. Assignments will go out next week, so hopefully I'll jive with mine and get writing on that. Guardian Bingo is proceeding apace - I have strong doubts I'll be able to fill all the squares, even in a year, but I'm giving it a good go.

I posted four fics in February and March, two in each month (which seems a fairly standard rate for me these days - Guardian continues to be very good to my writing muse).

Variable (Guardian, 7.5k, my take on tiny dragon Shen Wei)

Gilded (Lost Tomb Reboot, 5.5k, part of a series of us stabbing poor Wu Xie)

Delusions of Universality (Guardian, 1.5k, Dixingren & gender & Shen Wei)

what the weave tells you (Guardian, 4k, intimate Weilan featuring non-sexual dark energy bondage (no, I don't know what I was doing there either...))

Here's to hoping April is a better month overall. Hope everyone is keeping well!

Comments

[shadaras]

what the weave tells you (Guardian, 4k, intimate Weilan featuring non-sexual dark energy bondage (no, I don't know what I was doing there either...))

Doing great things, clearly! :D (also I laughed upon going there, seeing the 'inspired by', and recognising it as my 520 Day gift last year; of course I'm going to see your fic and make eyes at it too! <3)

[elenothar]

Oh, that was your requested fic? (Good taste ;) I hope you'll like this one, too, though the inspiration ended up somewhat loose <3

[shadaras]

My love for non-sexual kink remains solidly present regardless of the pairing, and the use of magic for sex/kink is also high up there, so... xD Kind of hard for me not to like it. (I tend to request rarepairs when given the chance because there's so much of the main pairings; that doesn't mean I'm not delighted to read weilan too! :D)

[elenothar]

My love for non-sexual kink remains solidly present regardless of the pairing, and the use of magic for sex/kink is also high up there

Both of those things are very good things that I'd love generally more fic of, nodnod.

I find that my rarepair tendencies depend very much on the fandom - sometimes it's all I'm into, and sometimes I get so hung up on one of the main characters that there's little space in my brain left over (very much the case with Guardian - I don't think I've ever written one pairing so consistently before). Anyway, I hope you get some good rarepair fic to enjoy!

[shadaras]

Both of those things are very good things that I'd love generally more fic of, nodnod.

Same! <3 Periodically friends give me prompts that result in me writing it, but it's surprisingly hard to find in the wild. :)

I find that my rarepair tendencies depend very much on the fandom

Oh, that's very fair! I know that sometimes the reason I go for rarepairs is simply that, no matter how much I like the main couple, I want some variety in what I'm reading and who I'm reading about? Also I'm just a little contrary. :) Nothing against the main pairings (especially in canons like Guardian, where I love Weilan too!); I just like going "well okay but what about—" and getting fixated on side characters instead.

[elenothar]

I just like going "well okay but what about—" and getting fixated on side characters instead.

Totally understandable, and I think it does enrich the fandom when people branch out a little. (I say, slightly hypocritically, because I'm the kind of person who gloms onto one character hard, 90% of the time - even odds on that being a random side character or a main character though)