Rec the 495th
I need good things in my life. So, here, in no particular order, are good things and good fic. Go on and spread the love.
Fic:
The Fourth Estate by catie56 / catharsis
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice (Austen novel)
Pairing: Elizabeth Bennet / Will Darcy
Of course, in a darkened parking lot on a Sunday night, no one was thinking about the Oscars, Charles Bingley, or box office records.
Will Darcy was considering whether to take Laurel Canyon Drive or Coldwater Canyon Drive to get home.
Elizabeth Bennet was contemplating something Charlotte had told her about a new research project.
The valets were wondering how much the owners of each car would tip them.
And North Hollywood resident Teresa Avila was trying to snap a photo of Will Darcy with her iPhone as quickly as possible.
This is an immense, immensely good modern Hollywood AU on Pride and Prejudice. A truly good AU translates the characters as they would be in that place and time. It doesn't change them for the sake of the scenery, and it doesn't transplant morals and mores simply because those are the prejudices (I'm using that word loosely, here) the author holds. It takes the characters and remains true to their flaws and imperfections while showing how those attributes are reflected and magnified in a new setting. I see that in The Fourth Estate, and I also see a story I could - and will - spend hours reading and rereading.
More than the technical aspects of the AU, this story is frighteningly good. It is strong, with excellent characters at its center, and nothing gets lost in translation. Elizabeth is just as strong-willed, albeit in a different context this time around, and instantly recognizable as an updated version of Austen's Elizabeth. Darcy changed so little that it's almost astounding, and the circumstances surrounding them were so well-researched, so well-written that I had to break a couple of times from the story to re-emerge back into my reality, and remind myself that I wasn't a part-time professor, part-time graduate student who was being hounded by the media for no particular reason at all.
bring you out under this flooded sky at any price by gyzym
Fandom: H50
Pairing: Danny/Steve
So: Steve misses Danny. That much is kind of obvious, as much as he’d like to deny it. He misses Danny’s running commentary and his crazy hair and the way he talks with his hands, misses his constant presence and his terrible eating habits. Hell, Steve even misses being yelled at, which says things about him he probably shouldn’t consider too much.
He toys with his beer, feet sunk into the sand, and stares out at the ocean. He misses Danny, and part of it--maybe the worst part of it--isn’t even rational. He wants Danny to be here, he does, but it’s more that he wants to be there, wants to be sure that Danny’s doing okay, wants to have Danny’s back the way Danny’s always got his. And that’s such a stupid thing to think, because Danny’s a grown man, is more than capable of handling himself.
He wonders if this means he doesn’t trust Danny, and wants to laugh, because that’s ridiculous.
Then he wonders if he’s in love with Danny, and finds it’s not nearly as funny.
“Oh, fuck,” Steve says, his beer suddenly heavy in his fingers. Because now that he thinks about it--about Danny’s hair and how he wants to run his fingers through it, about the crinkles around Danny’s eyes, about that smooth expanse of skin he always keeps tucked up under ridiculous ties--”Oh, fucking fuck.”
A surprising amount of story for 8,000 words. Go read, even if you have no clue who these two dudes are. All you need to know is that they have carguments.
Poetry
Date a Girl Who Reads, by Rosemarie Urquico
"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
In contrast to...
You Should Date An Illiterate Girl by Charles Warnke
Date a girl who doesn’t read. Find her in the weary squalor of a Midwestern bar. Find her in the smoke, drunken sweat, and varicolored light of an upscale nightclub. Wherever you find her, find her smiling. Make sure that it lingers when the people that are talking to her look away. Engage her with unsentimental trivialities. Use pick-up lines and laugh inwardly. Take her outside when the night overstays its welcome. Ignore the palpable weight of fatigue. Kiss her in the rain under the weak glow of a streetlamp because you’ve seen it in film. Remark at its lack of significance. Take her to your apartment. Dispatch with making love. Fuck her.
in contrast to...
For Strong Women by Marge Piercy
A strong woman is a woman at work
cleaning out the cesspool of the ages,
and while she shovels, she talks about
how she doesn't mind crying, it opens
the ducts of the eyes, and throwing up
develops the stomach muscles, and
she goes on shoveling with tears
in her nose.
Music:
The Show Goes On, Lupe Fiasco
I love this damn song. And the video's pretty darn cool, as well.
Video:
M and 007 on gender equality
I seriously tear up every time I watch this, but I keep watching it. It's really fucking sad, but
fangasmic pointed out to me that it's also really fucking funny.
To quote: "The voiceover, in addition to being sad and sometimes sobering, is also pretty fucking funny, not just because M, in a few short sentences, indicates Bond is (a) overpaid, (b) a slag, and (c) probably had sown illegitimate children to all and sundry. It's pretty fantastic."
Agreed.
Articles:
Anonymous Was A Woman: On Quotations
The Yale Alumni Magazine points out that quotes frequently attributed to famous, often white, men, were more frequently penned, spoken, or thought of by women.
Photos:
sk8 transfer by Andy Parant
Look at this and tell me you don't wish with all your heart you were this guy, just for an instant.
Don't Shatter The Illusion II by Gerard Sexton
My stepmother has a series of photos done of cathedral windows that she bought while she was in France, I believe, with her children. I've always loved those photographs; it's a complicated view of something that is supposed to let the world in, and not only decorate it. This photo reminds me of those.
Old Temples by Mark Ponomarenko
I'm absolutely positive that Baba Yaga came through here at least once, on her house that traveled on chicken legs. And that both thrills and terrifies me.
Woman with Light by Tugba Yuksel (I made up this name.)
Spain.
This entry was originally posted at http://foursweatervests.dreamwidth.org/55688.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Fic:
The Fourth Estate by catie56 / catharsis
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice (Austen novel)
Pairing: Elizabeth Bennet / Will Darcy
Of course, in a darkened parking lot on a Sunday night, no one was thinking about the Oscars, Charles Bingley, or box office records.
Will Darcy was considering whether to take Laurel Canyon Drive or Coldwater Canyon Drive to get home.
Elizabeth Bennet was contemplating something Charlotte had told her about a new research project.
The valets were wondering how much the owners of each car would tip them.
And North Hollywood resident Teresa Avila was trying to snap a photo of Will Darcy with her iPhone as quickly as possible.
This is an immense, immensely good modern Hollywood AU on Pride and Prejudice. A truly good AU translates the characters as they would be in that place and time. It doesn't change them for the sake of the scenery, and it doesn't transplant morals and mores simply because those are the prejudices (I'm using that word loosely, here) the author holds. It takes the characters and remains true to their flaws and imperfections while showing how those attributes are reflected and magnified in a new setting. I see that in The Fourth Estate, and I also see a story I could - and will - spend hours reading and rereading.
More than the technical aspects of the AU, this story is frighteningly good. It is strong, with excellent characters at its center, and nothing gets lost in translation. Elizabeth is just as strong-willed, albeit in a different context this time around, and instantly recognizable as an updated version of Austen's Elizabeth. Darcy changed so little that it's almost astounding, and the circumstances surrounding them were so well-researched, so well-written that I had to break a couple of times from the story to re-emerge back into my reality, and remind myself that I wasn't a part-time professor, part-time graduate student who was being hounded by the media for no particular reason at all.
bring you out under this flooded sky at any price by gyzym
Fandom: H50
Pairing: Danny/Steve
So: Steve misses Danny. That much is kind of obvious, as much as he’d like to deny it. He misses Danny’s running commentary and his crazy hair and the way he talks with his hands, misses his constant presence and his terrible eating habits. Hell, Steve even misses being yelled at, which says things about him he probably shouldn’t consider too much.
He toys with his beer, feet sunk into the sand, and stares out at the ocean. He misses Danny, and part of it--maybe the worst part of it--isn’t even rational. He wants Danny to be here, he does, but it’s more that he wants to be there, wants to be sure that Danny’s doing okay, wants to have Danny’s back the way Danny’s always got his. And that’s such a stupid thing to think, because Danny’s a grown man, is more than capable of handling himself.
He wonders if this means he doesn’t trust Danny, and wants to laugh, because that’s ridiculous.
Then he wonders if he’s in love with Danny, and finds it’s not nearly as funny.
“Oh, fuck,” Steve says, his beer suddenly heavy in his fingers. Because now that he thinks about it--about Danny’s hair and how he wants to run his fingers through it, about the crinkles around Danny’s eyes, about that smooth expanse of skin he always keeps tucked up under ridiculous ties--”Oh, fucking fuck.”
A surprising amount of story for 8,000 words. Go read, even if you have no clue who these two dudes are. All you need to know is that they have carguments.
Poetry
Date a Girl Who Reads, by Rosemarie Urquico
"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.
In contrast to...
You Should Date An Illiterate Girl by Charles Warnke
Date a girl who doesn’t read. Find her in the weary squalor of a Midwestern bar. Find her in the smoke, drunken sweat, and varicolored light of an upscale nightclub. Wherever you find her, find her smiling. Make sure that it lingers when the people that are talking to her look away. Engage her with unsentimental trivialities. Use pick-up lines and laugh inwardly. Take her outside when the night overstays its welcome. Ignore the palpable weight of fatigue. Kiss her in the rain under the weak glow of a streetlamp because you’ve seen it in film. Remark at its lack of significance. Take her to your apartment. Dispatch with making love. Fuck her.
in contrast to...
For Strong Women by Marge Piercy
A strong woman is a woman at work
cleaning out the cesspool of the ages,
and while she shovels, she talks about
how she doesn't mind crying, it opens
the ducts of the eyes, and throwing up
develops the stomach muscles, and
she goes on shoveling with tears
in her nose.
Music:
The Show Goes On, Lupe Fiasco
I love this damn song. And the video's pretty darn cool, as well.
Video:
M and 007 on gender equality
I seriously tear up every time I watch this, but I keep watching it. It's really fucking sad, but
fangasmic pointed out to me that it's also really fucking funny.
To quote: "The voiceover, in addition to being sad and sometimes sobering, is also pretty fucking funny, not just because M, in a few short sentences, indicates Bond is (a) overpaid, (b) a slag, and (c) probably had sown illegitimate children to all and sundry. It's pretty fantastic."
Agreed.
Articles:
Anonymous Was A Woman: On Quotations
The Yale Alumni Magazine points out that quotes frequently attributed to famous, often white, men, were more frequently penned, spoken, or thought of by women.
Photos:
sk8 transfer by Andy Parant
Look at this and tell me you don't wish with all your heart you were this guy, just for an instant.
Don't Shatter The Illusion II by Gerard Sexton
My stepmother has a series of photos done of cathedral windows that she bought while she was in France, I believe, with her children. I've always loved those photographs; it's a complicated view of something that is supposed to let the world in, and not only decorate it. This photo reminds me of those.
Old Temples by Mark Ponomarenko
I'm absolutely positive that Baba Yaga came through here at least once, on her house that traveled on chicken legs. And that both thrills and terrifies me.
Woman with Light by Tugba Yuksel (I made up this name.)
Spain.
This entry was originally posted at http://foursweatervests.dreamwidth.org/55688.html. Please comment there using OpenID.