Month(s) in Review: June, July and August 2022

[elenothar]

In my defense, things have very much been Happening over the summer, but I should also just stop pretending I'm ever going to post regularly on here *wince*

The good news is that I've moved successfully and survived my first brush with Covid successfully, for all its terrible timing. The bad news is that I'll be getting busy with work as of next week. Ah well.

Frankly, I think I've forgotten half the things I did in the last three months already, but giving it my best shot:

TV and movies

I watched Contact, the movie based on the Carl Sagan novel, for the first time. Nothing earth-shaking, but enjoyable enough.

On the TV show front, the watchalong finished The Long Night, which was amazing but also very depressing - I'm very glad I did it as a group watch, because I'm pretty sure I would've got stuck otherwise. The same group has now started Ancient Detective, which is good fun so far. The Tomb watchers group has moved on to Ultimate Note, which hasn't grabbed me thirteen episodes in, but we'll see how it goes.

I watched Heartstopper with tinny (cute, but suffers from my lack of interest in teenage protagonists) after finishing Detective L (very pretty, let's not talk about the plot). We've now moved on to The Romance of Tiger and Rose (too early for an opinion).

(Finally) finished watching The Lost Tomb 2 with eirenical (bit of a pacing slog in parts, but I got quite fond of this version of the Iron Triangle). We've moved on to Love and Redemption, which I expect will take a while.

On my own, I've pretty much continued the Yang Yang bender. I've watched most of The King's Avatar, which I didn't expect to get as invested in as I did (see under Books for more), and binged You are My Glory while I was sick (perfect show for that frame of mind; lots of fluff and pretty people and barely any tension). I also watched an utterly bizarre 30-minute mini series called I Am Your Bleating Phone. Am currently hemming and hawing over what to watch next, aka the usual.

The one bit of English media I've been consuming is the newest Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds, which is very Star Trek: not very subtle about its messages but with some flashes of brilliance, fun worldbuilding, and characters I could get invested in.



Books

I'm most of the way through Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, which so far is absolutely gripping and will likely be a strong rec. I also read Winter's Orbit (tropey fun). The big one, however, has been reading 全职高手 (QZGS - The King's Avatar), which is a very, very long book with so many good characters that I immediately got over-invested. If you'd asked me a few months ago whether I'd ever care about fictional esports, the answer would've been a resounding no and yet here we are.

Fandom activities

Since I'm covering three months, this'll be quite a list, newest to oldest:

a handful of inches (2k, Guardian, there's just one bed)

Blue Summer (3k, QZGS, queerplatonic YuHuangYe)

a spot in the mind (4.5k, LTR, telepathy, pingxie exchange treat)

Poison Leads To (6.5k, LTR, ace Wu Xie, pingxie exchange assignment)

Eliminate the Possible (3k, Guardian, Shen Wei & Li Qian)

Meritorious (2.5k, Guardian, Hallows zine fic about the merit brush)

Scales (6k, Guardian, sequel to Variable, the dragon Shen Wei fic)

Cures (2.5k, LTR, post canon recovery)

Cradled (3k, Guardian, collar fic)

In conclusion, I seem to have rediscovered how to mainly write short fic, which is neat for feeling productive.

Comments

[shadaras]

She Who Became the Sun is fantastic! :D I'm glad you're enjoying it! <3

(and that you're enjoying QZGS, but that's a canon I'm much more vocal about generally xD)

[clevermanka]

So much writing! Congratulations!

Hope you wind up enjoying Tiger and Rose. I loved it!

[elenothar]

From everything I'd heard, I was expecting She Who Became the Sun to be good, and it really really is. I adore the writing, and the subtle worldbuilding meshing with history. I'm more than halfway through, I don't think it'll take me much longer.

Yes, well. I did spend several months yelling at you every time I had QZGS emotion, so XD

[elenothar]

Thank you! The summer months are usually good for my writing productivity, though I'll also say that having written more shorter stories than usual makes it look like rather more than it was XD

At the moment Tiger and Rose is still hovering at my second-hand embarrassment limit (I'm pretty sensitive to it, which is why I don't usually read/watch transmigration stories), but I'm hoping it'll level out a bit once the main character gets more used to the world. The tropiness is certainly fun though.

[clevermanka]

I get it. I don't like secondary embarrassment either. YMMV obvs, but if it helps to know, the joy of watching Han Shuo's (eventual) utter devotion to her and her shenanigans made up for the cringiness for me. I'd love to see more M/F romantic relationships with their dynamic where the dude is 100% ride or die.

Kinda wanna rewatch it now 😄

[trobadora]

Glad to see you posting, whether regularly or not! I keep falling down on that myself, even though I really want to. But time keeps getting away from me, so I feel you. *hugs*

[goss]

I've watched most of The King's Avatar, which I didn't expect to get as invested in as I did

Heh. Same! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The King's Avatar, since it's not anything close to my usual interest genre-wise, but it was such a fun watch. ^__^

[umadoshi]

It's always good to see you, whether or not it's a regular thing. ^_^

And so much writing! *^^* Yay!

[profiterole_reads]

You got me at "telepathy". I have a big soft spot for this trope and you wrote it wonderfully. <3

[elenothar]

That does sound good, yeah. I'm definitely willing to stick with it for a while longer!

[elenothar]

Time, and also forgetting that posting is a thing I could do when I do actually time... Tbf, partly it's just that I'm not very used to putting out non-fandom-specific thoughts on the internet (it's been a long time since I last did that on LJ), so there's always that little bit of 'but I don't have anything to talk about?'. Clearly the answer is finding a couple more structured things to occasionally post about, but I've been procrastinating on that too 😅

*hugs*

[elenothar]

Interesting to hear that I'm not the only one who found it fun despite the genre clash. There was just something quite charming about the series, I thought. And I appreciate a (not super serious/dark) series without romance sometimes.

[clevermanka]

Yay! (my re-watch is already on episode 5 😂)

[elenothar]

Thank you! *hugs* I do at least try to keep up with commenting on other people's posts more.

Summers are usually good writing times for me, I'm quite pleased about it!

[elenothar]

It's such a good trope - there's so many ways one can take it, depending on the mood of the story/set-up. I'm glad you enjoyed it! <3

[trobadora]

Yeah, that's true about the structured things - they definitely help. I should get back to the Guardian meme myself. I keep meaning to and then ... not. *g*

[elenothar]

*gets distracted by bears*

[trobadora]

*exit, distracted by bears*

[elenothar]

🤣

[tinny]

I watched Contact, the movie based on the Carl Sagan novel

Oooh, Contact is one of the movies I have on DVD. I really liked it - I'm a fan of scifi like that, and I saw it in the theatre, which I suspect makes it look a bit more impressive. I should probably rewatch to see if it holds up twenty years later. (So few do.)

Strange New Worlds

I've been meaning to watch that, too. I never get around to anything. :D

In conclusion, I seem to have rediscovered how to mainly write short fic, which is neat for feeling productive.

Heee, yes! So much fic! \o/

[elenothar]

I thought the concept of Contact was quite neat. It wasn't entirely my thing, though I can't quite figure out what I didn't like about it (the guy, possibly, and everything involved with him). Mileage varies, of course, but I thought the film still worked quite well now.

Strange New Worlds is good Star Trek fun! We're still stuck in the middle for reasons unrelated to the show itself, but I certainly recommend it for something like and space-y.