fay_e: Text: though our instincts say that we should turn and run (instincts turn and run)
Tuesday, September 20th, 2016 08:28 pm
I think it's important to have days like this, away from the grind of the real world to fill one's head with other things.

Aka reader, I took leave again to watch a movie. I think it's pretty worth it. Despite rushing to the cinema from office, the contrast of the day is pretty important too. I went from a busy real world day to the no less quick but also important world of Kubo and the Two Strings.

I think an important part about animation is when you forget that you're watching an animation. Kubo goes into the realm of Nightmare Before Christmas - a world disjointed from the current one that we live in, but by the end you have bought into it.

Spoilery details on the movie )

I admit that I was initially iffy heading into the ending as I read spoilers that it did not do narrative justice to Kubo. Far from it. I think we are just so used to stories where the hero dons armour and gains a sword and fights that we feel not getting this sort of story is a cop out.

But Kubo has never been that sort of hero. All this while, we see his strengths has been his lute, his imagination and his capacity to love. That's why his weapon is not armour and sword.

More spoilers )

I also think the important moral to me is that I should not put on an armor and take up the sword because that is what other people expect. I think it is more important to string my lute and play on, as unconventional as it may be.

In conclusion: WATCH THE MOVIE. So worth it!
fay_e: Text: though our instincts say that we should turn and run (instincts turn and run)
Sunday, August 7th, 2016 10:53 am
I've convinced myself that the more something matters to me, the harder it is for me to talk about it. I'm sure you all have realised that I'm pretty tangled up in Zootopia since I saw it on March 17. I've actually held back on writing about it because I thought it would be too hard to put into words.

But I went back to flip through what I wrote the day after, and... it's actually pretty coherent. Some edits to the reaction for flow:

OTP squee under the cut )

So it's probably BS that I can't write reactions immediately. Especially because Nick the Snickers bar is a comparison that is GOLD and would never have occurred to me now. Even if it's true. I should totally write more immediate reactions.

The only thing I have to add is that since the movie, I've dedicated 79,528 (published) words as variations on the above theme, which I should really catch up on updating. I have more waiting in the wings! This OTP gets me so hard that I have to keep exploring it through fic.
fay_e: Text: I am not afraid to keep on living (not afraid to live)
Saturday, July 30th, 2016 10:45 pm
I'm sorry I had to.

I admit that I was nervous about this movie from watching the trailers, especially since it seemed to highlight THE ENTERPRISE CRASHES. What this movie failed to tell me that the Enterprise was cracked to reveal the heart within the body - the crew that drives the ship.

What we learned from this: EVERYONE IS COMPETENT AND BEAUTIFUL AND I AM IN FUCKING LOVE WITH ALL OF THEM

Things I liked with no particular order or coherency. Also spoilery )
fay_e: Text: I'm dreaming away, wishing that heroes they truly exist (wishing heroes exist)
Sunday, October 4th, 2015 10:45 am
Everyone must watch the Martian immediately!!!

The Martian is for people who wonder at space and space travel and visiting other planets and sciencing your way through problems, especially the NASA type.

The Martian is for people who enjoy laughing at gallows humour and moments of "this is ridiculous why are we doing it" and then continuing to science in that manner anyway.

The Martian is for people who want to see men and women of all races and nationalities behaving competently, with their roots being acknowledged without the other extreme of highlighting it in neon.

The Martian is for people who cry at the isolation of astronauts and at rocket explosions and yet still fight for space travel because this is what the men and women who went into space would have wanted, because the hope is always greater than the risks.

Why are you still reading this? Go and watch the Martian immediately!

Oh you're waiting for spoilers )
fay_e: Text: silence falls between us, as the shadows steal the light (as the shadows steal the light)
Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 12:43 pm
In a new post, list ten fic that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” works, or even all the same pairing or fandom, just the fics that have touched you or that stuck with you somehow.

It's pretty interesting how the fics that have stayed with me are indicative of various times in my life. There's a fic from the time I used to read Harry Potter fics to get me through exams. There's fic from my Bleach writing days. And I've got things ranging from gen to straight up smut.

So here in no particular order are the fics that have stayed with me:

1) Who We Are by Persephone Kore
and other fics in the series
Once upon a time I used to intentionally type up all my class notes in my computer so come exam time, I could tell my parents that I needed to study on the computer because ALL MY STUFF IS THERE!!! and in between cramming I would read a LOT of Harry Potter fic, because people in that fandom were crazy enough to write novel length fics on FF.net which means I didn't have to open too many windows (yes tabs didn't exist then).

Who We are, though not quite being a novel, was one of the Harry Potter fics read in those days. It stuck with me because it has my favourite stuff: good Slytherins, better interhouse cooperation and people struggling to do good, even the good guys. The idea of a younger Tom Riddle getting a second chance and Ginny trying to figure out if he deserves it is catnip to me.

2) Means of Persuasion
But taking about novel length stories, I cannot NOT mention this fic from the Transformers fandom. I honestly don't remember which verse it came from (darn comics) but it contains my personal fanon for my favourite characters in the general Transformers universe to me. Yeah, there's a few glaring differences - I actually ship Prowl/Jazz and I'm EXTREMELY fond of all the fanon on Twin bonds, but the rest of it hits the spot. I love that Prowl struggles with the right decisions, and Bluestreak bounces back from everything, even his nearest and dearest reading him wrong. The action is pretty good too.

3) Rain Over Blue Water by The_Starhorse
For twin fic from the Transformers fandom though, I have to go with this fic even though it's just Sideswipe. His view of his identity just resonates throughout the fic.

4) Conflicts of Interest by rageprufrock
I like this story because I love the voice of Connor, which is young and self-absorbed without being annoying. But then again he's Lex Luthor's kid so what do you expect. The Clark Kent bits are bonus.

5) Cities in Dust (shit let's be hardboiled)
If there's a fic that fully captures the spirit of the canon that inspired it, this fic has my vote 200% of the time. It's a Homestuck fic that has colourful chat logs (both content and actual visual colours), great drawings, associated soundtrack and trolls actually being aliens. Also it features my boy Dave Strider and the too awesome to belong to anyone Terezi Pyrope.

6) New Orleans series by silverlining99
I would particularly recommend the first fic because it is HOT LIKE BLAZES (especially when you imagine it all with Karl Urban's Bones) and sometimes I fantasise about having a New Year's kiss that's half as hot. *fans self* Though the second fic has a great Kirk-Bones friendship.

7) Covert fic(s) by Ten
I cannot describe this fic due to it being under f-lock and never been published publicly. But elements of it keep popping up in my own fics and I only wish it was already a trope like the less deserving soulmates' name on your arm thing.

8) Icebreakers by Suppi-chan
Back when I was a wee little fanthing, I saved this fic to a NOTEPAD document and read the heck out of it. Up until now "Kinomoto Sakura was having a tantrum. it was a very small tantrum, and it was being conducted in the privacy of her best friend's room, but still, Kinomoto Sakura was having a screaming, kicking tantrum" is the best way to open a CCS fic ever. I'll fight you on this.

I have pretty much reached the end of fic that I've read YEARS after the fact, but I will link you to two more fics that I pretty much roll around in glee and squee when I see they update:

9) Battlefield Terra
A Homestuck fic where on top of aliens being aliens, there are hot robots and mindreading and cultural misunderstandings and moments of BLAZING HAWT.

10) Life in Reverse
I'm particularly tickled by the bookends of my post, but I had to put this here because the more things change the more they stay the same. I like "bad" guys who make the choice NOT to do bad, and have to struggle with it, and it's also a nod to my current fandom, as it were, of MCU.
fay_e: Text: though our instincts say that we should turn and run (instincts turn and run)
Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 12:35 pm
I tried the Ultimate Trope Showdown, and it is a filthy liar. I mean, alright, fine, I can imagine all the tropes that tie at No 1 for me going down in the same fic:

Rank Name
1 Sex Pollen
1 Hurt/Comfort
1 Fake Out Make Out

But then I get 14 TROPES tied at position 4, and yes I know I'm indecisive but I can't like ALL of them that much. (Also there's no way that I could fit all of them in one fic. Which would be half the fun.)

Edit: Ok apparently I clicked I like both too many times. This is a little more accurate, though there are tropes I would still smush.

Tropes redo below! )
fay_e: Text: It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart (speak right to my heart)
Friday, June 5th, 2015 04:28 pm
Writing about Mad Max: Fury Road is hard for me, not least because it sat in the middle of a very "me" day. Since it was so hard for me to find friends to watch with, and I didn't want family to tag along, I sneaked out of the house to watch the movie by myself.

That was a good choice, because I have as much difficulty speaking about it as I do writing about it. It's not that it's a complex movie. The setting is fantastic, there's a lot of characters (especially ladies!!!) and every shot is layered, but once you accept all these the story is easy to follow.

Which is actually a good surprise. As someone who likes action movies, I've sat through my share of shaky cam shots. There's none of that here even when you're in the middle of a fight or a sandstorm. All this is thanks to the deliberation that went into the movie that let's scenes be lush without being noisy. And this is happening in a desert =) (A good article on this: http://vashivisuals.com/the-editing-of-mad-max-fury-road/.)

The same care has gone into the story. It's not a complex story by any means, but it's exceptionally well structured. Chekhov's guns get hung up with care for the many characters and get fired (sometimes with multiple explosive rounds =D) over the course of the story. Now that I'm working on my novel, I realised it's hard to tell/structure a story well.

All this is to say the simplest stories are sometimes the hardest to tell, and Mad Max: Fury Road tells its simple story well and with great respect to its female characters. This story will stay with me for a good long while. Please please rush to watch it!
fay_e: Text: It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart (speak right to my heart)
Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 09:23 pm
This trailer for The Little Prince movie made me cry, because The Little Prince was just so important to my life, and the trailer made me remember the sentiment of reading the bits of the story that were quoted in the trailer.
fay_e: Text: and I'll be your downfall (be your downfall)
Saturday, March 29th, 2014 12:17 am
I just watched Captain America 2 and it blew my mind. It was incredible for so many different reasons.

You see, Captain America is just like that 2048 game that's been going around. If you don't know what that is, click on the link and be prepared to lose a few hours of your life. In fact, I'll be playing a few rounds with you...

Alright! Back to the review. I found that Captain America 2 was better enjoyed if you picked up some things in Captain America 1. Captain America 1 is just like that number 2 in the 2048 game. It provides some basics that Captain America 2 picks up from.

Full list and spoilers under the cut )

In conclusion: An awesome movie with lots of continuity that is a bit heavy on the going down because of all the goodies they tried to cram into it. The movie comes together well, but do you REALLY need to dial things up to 2048?
fay_e: Text: If what they say is nothing last forever, what makes love the exception (what makes love the exception)
Tuesday, February 4th, 2014 06:16 pm
Lately [livejournal.com profile] tenebris and I have been chatting and squeeing over Superbowl clips like Captain America 2's trailer, so when she suggested prompting each other in chat, my mind went straight to CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Four snippets on Steve, Bucky, Natasha and OT3 FEELS~ below. Prompts are in bold.

The holes of my sweater, Steve POV )

No one is tired enough, Bucky POV )

But this is my dream, Natasha POV )

It's the house telling you to close your eyes, OT3 )
fay_e: Text: It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart (speak right to my heart)
Sunday, February 2nd, 2014 12:15 pm
What happens if home is not a place, but a person?

Wandering about tumblr has led me to try a lot of new things, and one of these was Taiyou no Ie (House of the Sun). I saw a panel with a really impactful line about loneliness, and decided to check the manga out.

I ended up staying for the story. It's rare that a manga so focused on romance also tries to tackle other issues. In this case, it's about how the separation of a family, whether due to death or divorce, can mess up a family and how each of the members define their home after that.

Cut for some spoilers and a lot of squee )

The series is on Mangafox if you want to check it out. I highly recommend it!
Tags:
fay_e: Text: If what they say is nothing last forever, what makes love the exception (what makes love the exception)
Monday, January 6th, 2014 02:38 pm
F-list! I need your opinions on something!

In wandering the web, I found a fun fact - I thought I was alone in needing a reread to fall in love with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. But no! I discovered that someone else was commenting about the same thing. In her case, it was because she thought the POV character was rather self-absorbed and it took her a while to get over that hurdle.

For me, it was the circumstances under which I read Pride and Prejudice. We were supposed to read Pride and Prejudice for a book review, and due to shenanigans regarding reading arrangements, I ended up with only 2 weeks to finish the whole book. I didn't think it was a problem because I could speed read. But I had forgotten one major thing - Jane Austen wrote in the language of a different era, like damned Shakespeare.

So I got mired in the language until I was just so frustrated at having to muck my way through that I couldn't enjoy the story anymore. Only until I got to the end where the plot managed to lift itself above the language (or I got used to reading it) did I look up and go, "That was fun! I wanna go again! WHEEEEEEEE."

So what about the f-list? Did you need to reread your Jane Austen in order to fall in love with her stories? Tell me!
fay_e: Text: if I told you a secret will you hold it and keep it alive (secret)
Monday, December 23rd, 2013 03:00 pm
Again stealing things from other people's memes, I found a topic from this post about fannish growing up where the poster is asked to write about how life and age and experiences has changed his/her taste in fannish stuff.

It fascinated me enough that I have to write about it myself.

I probably have been fannish my whole life, because I remember obsessing about books and Chinese drama like Justice Bao, but the age in which I remember being fannish in a significant life-style changing way was when I was 12. That was when the wave of Japanese manga/anime started becoming prevalent in my country, probably starting with Sailor Moon. They were all pre-dubbed/translated into Chinese.

The interesting thing about being where I live is that the Taiwanese version of translations came out the fastest. That meant that I got translations in a) my mother tongue, b) with the traditional script that I wasn't as familiar with, because I grew up with the simplified form of Chinese.

That was why when I first became "fannish", I was predominantly reading and writing (!!!) in Chinese. I wrote my first fic in Chinese. I also somehow managed to overcome the barrier and actually read traditional script (when I learned simplified), which is still pretty useful now. (I don't know why I didn't extend that power to Japanese boo hoo).

Watch me morph over the years! )
fay_e: Text: I'm dreaming away, wishing that heroes they truly exist (wishing heroes exist)
Friday, November 29th, 2013 09:00 pm
Dear reader,

Today I completed NaNo for the second time at 50,094 words.

It's a day early to boot! This experience was really very different from my last NaNo experience. I used to think that writing 2,000 words at a go was too hard, but that became my average towards the end. Which was good, because I had some very awful days in the middle of the month when I was too sick to write.

The methods that I used to write this round were very interesting. I more or less had a routine on workdays that went something like this:

Daily writing process )

I also have to say I love technology. I wouldn't have been able to do this if I hadn't been able to load Evernote on my tablet, smartphone and office computer that I couldn't install anything on. There was sufficient web functionality for me to keep my versions straight, but also let me peck out words while the connection was bad without worrying too hard about losing stuff. I think the only exception was when my work computer couldn't connect to the internet for a good few days, but then I typed discreetly on my smartphone.

Weekends bizarrely weren't times for writing a lot, but instead for making sure that I kept my story straight. The idea of a puppy pound was also such a godsend.

I'm going to take a break by WRITING NOVEL RELATED PR0N. Which won't make it into the story itself, because I think that as much as I love pr0n, I don't want it to detract from the rest of my story. So it will only be as treats to myself =)

As for next month, I think I will focus on finishing the story. I'm up to Chapter 10 and one major reveal, but there's one more to go and a possible tonal shift in the final section. Other plans are: do a read through to fix grammar and spelling; start looking at reference images to bulk up descriptions and/or store for a novel related tumblr; record myself reading the novel aloud, and listen to it while editing to make sure there aren't any awkward bits.

We'll see how much of the last para gets done. ^_^
fay_e: Text: It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart (speak right to my heart)
Wednesday, October 9th, 2013 09:15 pm
Six years after I first started, I have finally finished Nodame Cantabile.

My relationship with this anime is dreadfully complicated. In 2007, I started this anime and sped through the first 10 episodes. But then I got to the Rachmaninoff episodes, around episode 13, where Chiaki and Nodame played a piano duet together.

Somehow I just couldn't get myself to move on. I had become annoyed by Chiaki's insistence that Nodame become a concert pianist. "What was wrong with being a kindergarten teacher, if she is also working hard towards that goal?" I wondered. Better stop before the anime disappointed me. This would be like my Rachmaninoff with the series.

In a series of coincidences, I started taking the bus again around the same time that I wanted to find a series to watch. But I was in a bus full of working professionals. What could I possibly watch that I wouldn't be trying to hide from everyone else on the bus? Oh? I still have Nodame on my phone. What objections could a working professional have with classical music...

It wasn't easy getting into the series again. I struggled all the way up until episode 18, when Chiaki finally got his new orchestra going. Then I started to marathon the episodes again.

Now I wish I'd done that from the start. The anime didn't disappoint me. Nodame decided on her own that she wanted to become a concert pianist to be with Chiaki overseas. And then Chiaki... reciprocated.

The way that he asked her to join him overseas just hit me in my heart. Then he started talking about how he'd miss her piano if she didn't continue to pursue a music career. He takes a long journey to visit Nodame in her hometown, where he and Nodame have a really moving conversation about their bright future. I wasn't the only one moved, because then CHIAKI HUGGED HER FROM BEHIND.

CHIAKI. HUGGED. HER.

This is me screaming into the distance of how perfect Nodame and Chiaki looked in that moment. SO PERFECT. Nodame's pursuing music because she wants to, after all her scars. And Chiaki is able to admit he loves her, finally, especially after she gave him back the ability to fly. This is a scene I want to rewatch, over and over and over.

And to think that it took 23 episodes and 6 years to get here.
fay_e: Text: If what they say is nothing last forever, what makes love the exception (what makes love the exception)
Saturday, October 5th, 2013 09:06 am
I made the mistake of watching Bleach episode 342, after a really long time of looking at other things. I'd saved the ep on my phone, and was checking what was on it on a rainy morning.

This time round, I picked up on different things. I noticed that Ichigo complained that Rukia wasn't looking at him, but after she did he knew what she wanted to say. Which was why when Rukia was saying her farewell, she was looking away before looking at him in that last moment. Can I just say this is one of my kinks? Where speaking is not communication, because there are so many other ways to communicate too.

I also noticed that Ichigo went down fighting to the last, and Rukia let him. It's the partner kink that I've been nattering about all this while.

And just like that, I'm back in love with IchiRuki all over again. It's my forever OTP, because it encapsulates all the things that I like and look for in a pairing. Canon hasn't been very kind to them (both as characters and as a pairing), but I'll always hold IchiRuki near and dear to my heart.
fay_e: Text: I am not afraid to keep on living (not afraid to live)
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013 02:16 am
I had high hopes for Pacific Rim when going in. I was a Transformers, and I liked the movie for Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. This movie was directed by Guillermo del Toro, and had to be better than both of those! Plus, two ladies that I like very much, [personal profile] tenebris and [livejournal.com profile] himawari liked it a lot. It definitely had to be good, didn't it?

And it was good. It had great action and the visuals were gorgeous. The movie handed about 5 different story arcs and handled them all very well, with each contributing to the entire plot as a whole. The world building was awesome and the logic of the sea monsters/kaiju made sense. The characters were awesome.

But it could have been a great movie.

Perhaps I bring too much baggage to drift. Also spoilers )

Maybe I gripe because I care too much. As we speak, I already have 3 - 4 Pacific Rim fics planned. Yes everyone, I just might have a new fandom. Mako and Stacker are awesome, as are Herc and Chuck. Don't let anyone else tell you different.


Edit: I forgot to mention the movie made me cry a few times. And some of the fic are already having the same effect too.

Recs!
The best Stacker-Mako fic I've found so far: What Is Built Endures

The best Mako/Raleigh fic I've found so far: Reconstruction Site
fay_e: Text: I'm dreaming away, wishing that heroes they truly exist (wishing heroes exist)
Friday, April 26th, 2013 08:56 pm
So on Wednesday I made the mistake of watching Iron Man 3, complete with Star Trek trailier, and reading Bleach 528 on the same day.

Guys, too many FEELS that I didn't even know how to start talking about it! It was only with the distance of oh, 2 days or so that I started being able to talk about it.

So! I'll start with Iron Man 3, and maybe I will talk about Bleach after 530 comes out or something, because KT likes his major character stuff to try and happen on the multiples of 5 chapters. (I told you I'm a geek, didn't I?)

After missing the Madoka Magica movies due to being in the UK, at least this time being in the UK worked out in my favour. I got to watch Iron Man 3 a full one week before the US!!! Of course, that made reading movie reactions hard, but still... <3

As someone who hasn't read the Iron Man comic books, it's taken me the three movies to realise one thing: Iron Man never quite has his shit together. Someone said that Marvel does flawed characters really well, but I didn't realise how it could work until this movie.

Those who have hung out long enough to see my review on Iron Man 2 know my complaint that Tony never quite got to get to be the superhero in the second movie. That upset me a lot, because I thought that a superhero movie should be more about saving people and making a change to the world.

Tony got to do that in Avengers, which is partially why I like that movie very much. Tony got to be Iron Man, and in a team to boot, and still shine as a superhero. That worked out well for me.

But you know the thing that they say about being a superhero: it isn't all that it's cracked out to be.

Iron Man without his shit together makes a huge impact, under the cut for ~SPOILERS~ )

All in all, A+++++++++++ movie would watch again! It couldn't unseat Iron Man 1 because I like a good 'donning the mantle' story, but it comes pretty close! If I had to rank the three Iron Man movies from best to... let's not go there, it would be Iron Man 1, 3, 2.

Also FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELS.

There will be fic. I feel it.
fay_e: Text: though our instincts say that we should turn and run (instincts turn and run)
Friday, February 1st, 2013 08:05 am
I haven't been posting here, since I've been rushed off my feet, but I can officially say that I wrote for (almost) every day of the [livejournal.com profile] 31_days challenge! GO ME.

Now I just have to write [livejournal.com profile] picfor1000 and [community profile] trope_bingo. WILL THE FUN NEVER CEASE.
fay_e: Text: if I told you a secret will you hold it and keep it alive (secret)
Sunday, December 23rd, 2012 12:12 am
This post is brought to you by the following question: Why don't I have either

a) Lady Gaga
b) Florence + the Machines, or
c) Ke$ha

mp3s on my computer???

This post is also brought to you by man, it's been forever since I posted. My excuse is that my course is way too busy for it to be even sensible. Even in the holidays, I've been doing numeracy tests. What is my life =(.

Other than that, it's been quiet because this is Christmas break month. The sun sets way earlier than I'm used to, which means that I get all lazy and sleep at 9pm and only wake up maybe another 12 hours later, when the sun does actually rise. I used to joke that I'm a plant - in this context, when I have other things to do other than sleep, it's not really very funny!

Even so, I've been writing a lot, and have gotten back to 750 words after not touching it for the... entire semester. I've also had a chance to catch up on my websurfing.

One of the really fun things I found was Diane Duane's tumblr. If I didn't know already this woman was awesome, reading her tumblr would confirm that.

She also described why I have a partnership kink when I had no idea how to put it into words. She did that in a post about the links between Sherlock and Star Trek. (I TOLD you she was awesome.) I'll quote liberally from it:

"It’s about growth, and what each of these men has to teach the other over time... Each man is going to make the other whole — though there’ll be the usual missteps and kicking and screaming along the way. But this is what makes for great and satisfying drama: characters who change each other and are changed themselves — not running together like two drops of water into one, but each growing more perfect in the exercise of some unique gift — say, the conduction of light or the reception of it — simply because of the other’s continued and reliable presence in an otherwise unreliable world."

Aaaaaah, partnership kink. *basks in that great description*