#sean's anime recs

[kitchenisking]

October Fic Rec

The Wolf by rororowyourboat - (Rating: G, Words: 3,901, sterek)

Stiles and Derek haven't seen each other in years, but after talking on the phone nonstop for months now, Derek is finally moving back to Beacon Hills. The day he's supposed to arrive, he stops responding to Stiles' texts, and then a blue-eyed wolf shows up on his porch steps. Obviously something has happened to Derek, and Stiles needs to help him out... right?

His Accidental Touch by Hidden_Orchard - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 12,859, sterek)

It happened accidentally, the first time. All the many and varied times afterwards, Stiles would hold his hands up and admit full responsibility for. But that first time – pure chance.

Derek needs a cuddle. Stiles - generous man that he is - would never deny Derek something he needs.

you're pulling on my soul by maevedarcy  - (Rating: T, Words: 3,981, sterek)

Derek reached behind him and gave him a bottle of Mountain Dew. Stiles froze, at loss of words for the first time in a long time. Did Derek bring him Mountain Dew? How did he know he’d be here in the first place? And how did he know to get him the blue raspberry flavor?

“You always drink that when you’re at the loft,” he explained, as if it was obvious.

[Or, 3 times Stiles missed the signs and one time he didn't]

Kiss It Better by Hedwig221b - (Rating: T, Words: 1,640, sterek)

Eli was healthy, bubbly and happy most of the time, a perfect overly energetic and curious child, but sometimes he just gave Stiles this studying, almost suspicious long stare and pursed his little button nose, as if thinking very hard about something.

Today was one of those days.

A Little Push in the Right Direction by crossroadswrite  - (Rating: G, Words: 3,708, sterek)

“Can I see your wolf face?”

Derek flushes all over, ducks his head and kicks the carpet awkwardly. “I, uh, can’t really shift into my beta shift.”

Stiles squints at him and for a split second the color of his eyes turns liquid, like there’s whiskey sloshing around in the irises. It’s subtle enough that it could pass for a trick of the light but Derek knows better; growing up peeking at an array of supernatural creatures from behind his mom’s legs taught him enough to take a step back.

“Maybe you need a push.”

Fix my car and fix my tubes by TalesoftheEnchantedForest - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 2,297, sterek)

Derek fixes Stiles's car and Stiles is just really turned on by his skilled husband.

Thunder by TriskHellion - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 12,066, sterek)

The one in rural Montana where two strangers — a depressed, lonely Alpha Derek and a haunted post-Nogitsune Werefox/Thunder Kitsune Stiles — leave everything behind and end up finding each other.

-----

Both of them seemed to realize they’d been staring at the same time, Derek saying “Uh, howdy” and the stock boy straightening up and asking if he needed help finding anything.

“Looking for a screw,” he said, after tearing his eyes away and scanning the aisle again. He was already groaning internally when the words were halfway out of his mouth and the new guy — Sean his name tag proclaimed at another glance — snorted before asking what kind while trying to keep a straight face.

My Sanctuary (is in your arms) by Karla_Kattz - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 23,670, sterek)

Stiles jumps out of his car and makes his way to the rear. Without giving it too much thought, he rips the trunk open. The wolf lifts its head and lets out a low whine. The wolf?! What the fuck! There’s a wolf in his car. Lying on Derek’s maroon jumper, that he was looking for two months ago - turns out, it has been in Stiles’ Jeep all the time, oops. Stiles throws the lid shut again and leans against it, heavily. He’s got no clue how the animal got in there, but it must have happened when Stiles put his bag in the car and then went back inside his dad’s house to get that damn energy drink. And now he picked up a canine hitchhiker. Fucking amazing. Honestly, why is this Stiles’ life? Why keeps stuff like that happening to him?

——— Stiles co-owns a wolf sanctuary, loves his job and his amazing boyfriend Derek even more. His life couldn‘t be more perfect. Except, you know, if it wasn‘t for his boyfriend‘s secret, his feral sister and the bunch of crazy hunters who are after them. Apart from that… yep. Awesome.

inevitable by EvanesDust - (Rating: G, Words: 2,294, sterek)

in·ev·i·ta·ble /inˈevidəb(ə)l/ adjective certain to happen; unavoidable.

…the one where Eli asked about how Derek and Stiles met and eventually fell in love.

Dress You Up by sffan - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 5,057, sterek)

Stiles is spending a lot of time with the queens at The Jungle. He goes out with them on Halloween and bumps into Derek. Sex happens.

[interactyouth]

hello, do you have any videos or youtube channels recs to learn more about being intersex (that touch on any topic)? if you do, tysm!

I do, thank you for asking! I apologize that many of these are not closed captioned in advance, but I've compiled a playlist of SOME videos that I've seen online. I would like to add some clarification, though. Many forms of media that are available will use the derogatory word, "hermaphrodite", to describe intersex people. Due to its extensive history in medical pathologization, it is considered a slur and should not be used by perisex (non-intersex) people. Reclaimed usage of the term (similar to slurs reclaimed by the queer community) is only reserved for intersex people due to said history. However, medical contexts continue to use it as a diagnostic label, so many intersex people must use it when trying to receive affirming healthcare.

As a result, it's important to be aware of this information when many forms of media, both old and new, contain the usage of this word.

While the word is genuinely relevant for discussions of animal and plant biology, it does not accurately describe the anatomy of intersex people. Unlike animals and plants, human beings--whether perisex or intersex--are generally not capable of having two different sets of fully functioning reproductive anatomy. Sex (for humans) is a bimodal spectrum, and is not a binary. As such, bodies can look many different ways due to innate variations of sex characteristics!

Now, I'll highlight a few specific videos in particular below:

A 2016 TedxTalk by an important intersex scholar, Dr. Georgiann Davis. She has written dozens of extremely important publications over the past decade! Here is a 2011 publication and a 2015 publication discussing the pathological medicalization of intersex people , and a 2016 publication that additionally describes the medicalization of trans experiences.

Emily Quinn's 2018 TedxTalk and her 2018 Ted WOMEN presentation (the second one is captioned). She also has a YouTube channel!

Pidgeon Pagonis has a YouTube channel, and they have been featured in several different interviews across the years during their ongoing advocacy work. They have a 2019 documentary about their experiences, and they have a website.

Here is an archived video from 1997 of intersex people discussing their experiences with other intersex people at a gathering held by Intersex Society of North America, whose work is currently continued by interACT.

In collaboration with Human Rights Watch, interACT worked on a 2017 report and video to raise awareness of the harms of medically unnecessary surgeries performed on intersex children without fully informed consent. The video is captioned.

Activist Sean Saifa Wall has spoken extensively about his experiences on media platforms, and he is a co-founder of the Intersex Justice Project, which focuses on empowering Black and Brown intersex people in advocacy work.

There is a 90 minute documentary that was released in 2023 called Every Body, and it details the life experiences of three intersex people.

While not a video, there is also the personal experiences of intersex youth as documented in a 2023 doctoral research dissertation done in collaboration with interACT: “'Support the shit out of them:” Intersex emerging adults’ socialization experiences and recommendations for caregivers of an intersex child".

Overall, I hope this is suitable resource, and thank you again for the question!

[transmutationisms]

hi!! big fan of your blog. you really changed my succession viewing experience and i can't wait to rewatch after reading the recs you've put up!

that being said, i read megan garber's piece in the atlantic about the animal imagery/darwinian implications in the show and really loved it (as a biologist with an interest in sociology lol). do you have any specific reading material relating to the topics in that piece? i'd just love to read more but not super sure what i'm even asking/looking for, so feel free to ignore!

hi! so, there's quite a large body of literature in history of biology that deals with the politics of evolutionary theory, including darwinism. you can read these in any order, though i would recommend starting with bob young's 'malthus and the evolutionists: the common context of biological and social theory' if you haven't already encountered it. this was a signal essay in historically grounding the argument that darwinian evolutionary theory read victorian industrial capitalism and malthusian population anxiety into the natural world, which was why it appealed to victorian men of science in a way that previous theories of evolution (sometimes referred to as species transformation or transmutationism, or transformisme / transformismo in france / italy) hadn't. bob was a marxist historian at a time when history of biology had been largely written by working scientists and naive positivists, and his methodological influence continues to be felt in the field today. anyway, these are only starting points and are centred on france and britain, and also i excluded p*ter b*wler because i hate his ass:

the politics of evolution: morphology, medicine, and reform in radical london, by adrian desmond

utopia's garden: french natural history from old regime to revolution, by emma spary

the age of lamarck: evolutionary theories in france, 1790–1830, by pietro corsi

l'introduction du darwinisme en france au xixe siècle, by yvette conry (<- i can't remember whether this was translated into english, sorry)

faces of degeneration: a european disorder, 1848–1918, by daniel pick

darwin: the life of a tormented evolutionist, by adrian desmond and james moore

the cuvier-geoffroy debate: french biology in the decades before darwin, by toby appel

evolution before darwin: theories of the transmutation of species in edinburgh, 1804–1834, by bill jenkins

the spirit of system: lamarck and evolutionary biology, by richard burkhardt

the meaning of evolution: the morphological construction and ideological reconstruction of darwin's theory, by robert j richards

the great nation in decline: sex, modernity, and health crises in revolutionary france, c. 1750–1850, by sean quinlan

lamarck, the mythical precursor: a study of the relations between science and ideology, by madeleine barthélemy-madaule

victorian sensation: the extraordinary publication, reception, and secret authorship of vestiges of the natural history of creation, by james secord

[thryth-gaming]

Monster of the Week Media Recs

Asterisk(*) = I've actually watched or played this. Feel free to add on to the list in reblogs.

Live Action TV Shows

*X-Files

*Supernatural

*Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Angel

Fringe

*Friday the 13th the Series

*She-Wolf of London

*My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (K-Drama)

*Poltergeist: Legacy

*Ghost Whisperer

Vampire Diaries

*Wynonna Earp

*The Librarians

*Warehouse 13

*Werewolf (80s TV series)

*Being Human

*Eureka

*Kolchak: The Night Stalker (either)

*Grimm

*iZombie

*Forever Knight

*Stranger Things

*Are You Afraid of the Dark?

*School Spirits

*Wednesday

*Dark Angel

Animation

*Vampire Princess Miyu

*Ghost Hunt (anime)

*Castlevania

Grimm Variations

*Shiki

*Jujutsu Kaisen

*Scooby-Doo, most titles

*Monster High

*MIB Animation

*The Real Ghostbusters

*Ghostbusters Extreme

*Fate/Stay Night

*JoJo's Bizarre Adventures

Video Games

*Unavowed

*Love Bites

*Love Notes

*Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

*Control

*Secret World Legends (microtransaction warning)

*The Wolf Among Us

*Murdered: Soul-Survivor

*Return of the Obra Din

*Eternal Darkness

*Phasmophobia

Web-Originals

*Carmilla Webseries

*Zebra Girl Webcomic

*Katalepsis Webfiction

Welcome to Nightvale

Movies

*Near Dark

*Lost Boys

*Innocent Blood

*The Howling

*Aliens franchise

*Predator franchise

*Poltergeist

Sean of the Dead

NOPE

*Hotel Transylvania

*The Addams Family

*Covenant

*Warlock

Hot Fuzz

*Cursed

[toshio]

random tangent but...

i love madoka magica so much because it’s just...distressed anime lesbian girls trying to fight evil witches and the music is so good...and it’s an original anime not based off a manga (love that shit) so you don’t gotta read the manga really. and did i mention the music is really good?

[strawberry-shortest-cake]

[wuxianphobic]

RECS (pt. 1)

(part 2 here)

hello and welcome to my masterlist of lgbt media i’ve watched and recommend, sorted by country of origin and including any relevant trigger/content warnings. pls enjoy the ride i have adhd and i love making lists

i’m a tv show bitch so most of these are series, movies will have a publication year next to them in parentheses. ones with an asterisk* next to them are ones my best friend @sunshinerotting has also seen and recommends <3 if you want to get the Vibes of these individual shows/movies you can check out my #recs tag

as a general rule i try not to recommend things with sad endings, but some of my favorites do end sad so for those i’ll put a note on where to stop if you prefer to end when it’s still happy

honorable mentions include merlin (fantasy, monster-of-the-week, comedy, drama, Strong Male Friendship), the get down (historical drama, social commentary, musical, side mlm couple), itaewon class (revenge drama, realistic fiction, side trans character), romantic killer (anime, comedy, found family, supernatural element, side nonbinary character), and wynonna earp (fantasy western, supernatural element, side wlw couple). pls send me an ask or a message if you want tws for any of these ones. now on with the masterlist:

CHINESE (MAINLAND)

THE UNTAMED* mlm (censored), historical fantasy/wuxia, drama, comedy

brought back sixteen years after his death to seek revenge on the abusive family of a young man, wei wuxian is given another chance at life, but most of the cultivation world is still cursing his name. his story is unfolded in its entirety, from his childhood to his fame and infamy and ultimately his death, and in his second life he is reunited with lan wangji, the man who was by his side for it all

warnings: war, torture, SA, incest, suicide

THAI

MANNER OF DEATH mlm, crime thriller, mystery, realistic fiction, drama

when his friend jane dies under mysterious circumstances, medical examiner bun must find out the truth of what happened to her as the police try to rule her death a suicide. he (begrudgingly) gets help from jane’s assumed boyfriend tan, bun’s top suspect who has secrets of his own

warnings: discussion of depression + suicide, violence, guns, SA, child endangerment

DON’T SAY NO mlm, comedy, drama, school setting, sports team

longtime friends leo and fiat have to learn to renavigate their relationship after they begin dating, while also dealing with people trying to pull them apart. meanwhile, leo’s brother leon tries to catch the attention of an older student who would rather talk to his cat than to leon

warnings: family issues, SA, homophobia, blackmail/revenge porn, slutshaming, negative portrayal of mental illness

BAD BUDDY mlm, side wlw couple, comedy, drama, school setting, enemies to lovers

pat and pran, childhood enemies, are reunited in college where their respective departments also have a deep rivalry. under orders from the school to stop the fights between their departments, pat and pran have to work together to keep their groups apart on campus, leading to them begrudgingly (at first) spending more time together

warnings: guns (ep 9)

NOT ME* mlm, side trans character, political/crime thriller, drama, supernatural element

when his twin brother black is beat up and put in the ICU, white goes undercover as him in his gang to find out who might have hurt him. white has to keep up his cover while also dealing with his developing feelings for sean, who is suspicious of “black’s” sudden change in personality. as time goes on, white realizes that he doesn’t know nearly as much about his brother or the world as he thought he did

warnings: violence, kidnapping, guns, house fire, police brutality

LOVE IN THE AIR mlm, realistic fiction, comedy, drama, enemies to lovers

rain is pissed to find out that the girl he likes has a crush on payu, a mechanic and alumni from his department who everyone is in love with. feeling that payu—confident, popular, and well aware of it—needs to be put in his place, he sets out to make payu fall stupid in love with him. meanwhile, payu’s charming friend prapai tries to get the attention of rain’s best friend sky, much to sky’s annoyance (or so it seems)

warnings: SA, past and attempted rape, kidnapping, past abuse, undernegotiated d/s

MOONLIGHT CHICKEN mlm, deaf character, drama, realistic fiction

after passing out in a diner, wen meets and takes an interest in the restaurant’s owner jim, who decidedly does not do relationships. wen begins working at the diner while attempting to break down jim’s walls and get to know him better. meanwhile, jim’s nephew befriends and falls for a teenage boy his age who hasn’t left the house since he lost his hearing

warnings: homophobia, ableism, family issues

YES OR NO (2010) wlw, comedy, drama, school setting, enemies to lovers

traditional girl pie is horrified to discover that her new roommate kim is a tomboy. at first she refuses to interact with her, but kim is friendly to her and as time goes on they become closer, leading them both to wonder if there’s something more than just friendship between them

warnings: homophobia, attempted self-harm

KOREAN

COLOR RUSH mlm, drama, supernatural element, mystery

in a world of people who can’t see color (monos) unless they meet a specific person (probes), high schooler yeonwoo has no interest in ever meeting his probe. but when yoohan, a classmate, discovers that he is yeonwoo’s probe, he dedicates himself to teaching yeonwoo the names and the beauty of all the colors he couldn’t see before

warnings: obsession, discussion of violent crime/cannibalism, suicide attempt, psych ward scene

SEMANTIC ERROR* mlm, side wlw character, comedy, school setting, opposites attract

left the sole person to do all the work in a group project, serious student chu sangwoo exposes the other students in his group, delaying the graduation of jang jaeyoung, a carefree art student. with his graduation delayed, jaeyoung sets out to annoy sangwoo in any way he can. to make things worse, jaeyoung also happens to be the same designer that sangwoo contacted for help on making a video game for a class project

warnings: none

THE EIGHTH SENSE mlm, drama, realistic fiction, school setting, sports club

after moving from the country to seoul for college, art student kim jihyun meets seo jaewon, an older student just back from the military who’s determined to be his friend. jihyun joins the surfing club that jaewon is president of, and as jaewon teaches him to surf they grow closer despite jaewon’s depression and his ex-girlfriend’s jealousy

warnings: depression, discussion of suicide, family issues, nonconsensual kissing, implied substance abuse, age gap relationship

SHE MAKES MY HEART FLUTTER wlw, comedy, drama, realistic fiction, bar setting

gang seol, a young unemployed lesbian, discovers a hole-in-the-wall women-only bar only to find out the owner is her aunt jung one, who is also a lesbian. seol begins working at the bar, and her openness with her own sexuality causes some conflict between them as seol tries to bring attention to the small lesbian bar that jung one has carefully cultivated to be under the radar and unassuming

warnings: none

THE HANDMAIDEN (2016) wlw, psychological thriller, mystery, drama, period piece

a young pickpocket named sookhee is hired by a con man named fujiwara to work as the handmaiden to the heiress lady hideko. sookhee's role is to convince hideko to marry fujiwara so he can defraud her and inherit her fortune before locking hideko up in a psychiatric asylum, but hideko is not as fragile as she seems

warnings: violence against women, SA, attempted rape, suicide attempt, psych ward scene, incest

JAPANESE

YUURI!!! ON ICE mlm (censored), sports anime, comedy, drama, realistic fiction

anxious figure skater katsuki yuuri heads home after a big loss to rediscover his passion for skating. when a video of him skating to one of famed victor nikiforov’s routines goes viral, victor shows up at his house and insists on personally coaching yuuri, who has absolutely no idea how to deal with his idol being this close to him

warnings: fatphobia, anxiety attacks

CHERRY MAGIC!/CHERRY MAGIC! THE MOVIE (2022)* mlm, comedy, drama, supernatural powers, workplace romance

legend has it that if you’re still a virgin by your 30th birthday, you’ll get magical powers. shy office worker adachi doesn’t think much of this until it happens to him—when he turns 30, he gains the ability to read people’s minds when he touches them! and what’s more, he finds out that somehow, the handsome office darling kurosawa has a crush on him

warnings: sexual harassment, age gap relationship (side couple)

MY BEAUTIFUL MAN (UTSUKUSHII KARE)/MY BEAUTIFUL MAN: ETERNAL (UTSUKUSHII KARE: ETERNAL) (2023)* mlm, drama, realistic fiction, school setting, idol character (kind of)

hira, a shy high schooler with a stutter, develops a crush on his idol trainee classmate kiyoi. with his self-esteem nonexistent, he doesn’t think that kiyoi could ever take an interest in him, but kiyoi notices hira always looking at him and starts doing everything in his power to keep hira’s gaze on him

warnings: bullying, obsessive behavior, kidnapping (eternal)

SILHOUETTE OF YOUR VOICE (2017)* mlm, hoh character, drama, realistic fiction, school setting

taichi stumbles upon and befriends kohei, a fellow student at his school who gives taichi his lunch one day. seeing that kohei, who is hard of hearing, is looking for a note taker, taichi offers to take on the role in exchange for kohei bringing him a lunch from home on the days they have class. since taichi’s voice is naturally loud, kohei finds it easy to communicate with him and taichi encourages him to advocate for himself

warnings: ableism

CANADIAN

CLOUDBURST (2011)* wlw, comedy, drama, realistic fiction

stella and dotty, two elderly lesbians, escape their nursing home and go on a roadtrip to canada to get legally married. on the way, they pick up a hitchhiker named prentice who is also heading to canada to visit his mother, and the three of them bond

warnings: fatphobia, dick and balls just on screen at one point

SINGLE ALL THE WAY (2021)* mlm, romantic comedy, christmas setting, best friends to lovers

chronically single peter goes home for the holidays accompanied by his best friend nick. his family members are caught between trying to set up peter and a gay personal trainer and trying to set up peter and nick, who they are convinced are in love and just don’t see it

warnings: none

AMERICAN

HANNIBAL* mlm, side wlw couple, horror, psychological thriller, drama, crime thriller

will graham is recruited into active field work in the fbi despite his and others’ concerns that he is too mentally unstable. in order to combat this, his boss jack brings in psychiatrist hannibal lecter who is, unbeknownst to anyone, a serial killer and a cannibal. hannibal and will develop a mutual fascination with each other as will’s mental health worsens

warnings: manipulation, gaslighting, body horror, guns, gore, animal death, psych ward scenes, suicide attempt, implied incest, implied SA

ARCANE wlw couple, steampunk fantasy/sci-fi, action, drama

based on the characters from league of legends, tension builds between the city of piltover and its oppressed lower city. as scientists jayce and viktor lead progress in piltover, sisters vi and powder find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict, not helped any by vi's developing relationship with a piltover woman

warnings: violence, addiction, familial problems, animal abuse, (sometimes forced) body modification, eye stuff

RENT (2005)* wlw, unlabeled queer relationship, rock musical, drama, romance, tragicomedy

a year in the life of seven bohemian friends in new york during the AIDS crisis as they struggle to get where they want to be in the face of poverty, death, gentrification, HIV, and their own relationships with each other and with their ex-friend turned landlord

warnings: AIDS, drug abuse/addiction/withdrawal, classism

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES (1991)* wlw (censored), comedy, drama, realistic fiction

evelyn couch befriends elderly ninny at a retirement home. feeling stuck in her own life, she listens to ninny telling her stories of the town she grew up in, centering mainly around two young women: even-tempered, kind ruth, and boyish firecracker idgie. cut between these two stories, evelyn begins to change her life as she is inspired by ruth and idgie's story

warnings: domestic violence, racism, slurs

JENNIFER’S BODY (2009)* wlw, horror, comedy, supernatural element, school setting

after a mysterious fire at a bar concert, reserved teen needy lesnicki notices unnerving changes in her best friend jennifer check, a domineering and popular cheerleader, who shows up at needy’s house covered in blood. now jennifer is possessed by a demon and killing off boys in their class, and her next victim is needy’s boyfriend chip

warnings: gore, ableist slurs, possession, psych ward scenes, fatphobia, self-harm

KISSING JESSICA STEIN (2001)* wlw, romantic comedy, realistic fiction, drama

with her brother engaged, her best friend pregnant, and a lot of unsuccessful first dates, jessica stein responds to a women seeking women ad in the newspaper and meets helen cooper, an openly bisexual woman. the two start going out despite jessica’s internalized homophobia which causes her to keep their relationship a secret, upsetting helen

warnings: biphobia. also the ending is disappointing imho so i’d suggest turning it off after they move in together

BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER (1999)* wlw, romantic comedy, teen, satire

megan’s friends and family have to break the news to her that she is, in fact, a lesbian, much to her shock. her parents then send her to a conversion camp where she meets a bunch of other gay teens; they are supposed to learn to be straight again through enforcing traditional gender norms and activities. while there, megan falls for graham, a rebellious lesbian in the same program

warnings: homophobia, slurs

LOOKING FOR HER (2022)* wlw, christmas, romantic comedy, realistic fiction, fake dating

after her parents' less than stellar reaction to her coming out a few years before, taylor gets an invite from them for her and her girlfriend jess to come and spend the holidays together. the only problem--she and jess broke up. naturally, taylor holds auditions and hires actress olive to play the part of jess for a week over christmas

warnings: minor mentions of homophobia

BOUND (1996)* wlw, crime thriller, mob movie

while doing remodeling work in an apartment building, corky meets and starts an affair with violet, the girlfriend of the mobster who lives next door. wanting to get out of the mob, violet enlists corky’s help to trick her boyfriend out of $2 million, but things don’t go as planned

warnings: guns, blood, homophobia, slurs, assault, violence

part 2 here

i’ll probably update this as i watch more. pls feel free to let me know if you watch any of my recs and what you think of them! <3

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Do you give recs? I'm looking for some woke-free medias to consume (books particularly, but it can be anything)

It's hard to give recs without knowing your taste, but I'll try. Necessarily, many of these will be older things, so sorry if that bothers you

Books:

The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell (sci-fi)

The Nightside series by Simon R Green (urban fantasy/detective noir)

The Deathstalker series by Simon R Green (there are gay side characters in a few of the books, but the books themselves aren't woke. Just good sci-fi/space opera)

Any Conan the Barbarian story written by Robert Howard or Robert Jordan (fantasy)

The Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson (disclaimer I'm only up to book 4 out of 15 and the last book was published in 2020 so it may have gotten woke or started to suck later on, but right now it's pretty good and pretty pro-American. Alternate history action sci-fi)

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher (urban fantasy)

Any Dune book by Frank Herbert or Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert (sci-fi)

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (only read the first three out of nine so same disclaimer as Destroyermen. Alternate history fantasy. Napoleonic Wars with dragons)

The Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell (also the excellent film adaptations of the books with Sean Bean if you can find them. Historical fiction. You follow Richard Sharpe through the ranks of the British army during the Napoleonic Wars)

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (the grandfather of modern fantasy)

The collected works of HP Lovecraft (definitely not PC or woke. His cat makes an appearance in one of his stories. Horror)

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker (horror. Hellraiser was based on this novella. tentative rec because it's good, but there's a lot of mentioned sex and very liberal attitudes towards sex so I don't know if you'd consider that woke or not. The sex obsessed characters are the bad guys though)

Any of the pre-Disney "canon" Star Wars expanded universe books.

Any of the Star Trek books written by William Shatner (they're all a connected series though so read them in order)

If non-woke is your main criteria, I'd suggest giving the Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski a try. I personally hated the little bit of the first one I read, and I hate the Witcher series in general, but no one can argue that the Witcher is in any way woke, lol

Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher (fantasy)

Phantoms by Dean Koontz (also recommend the movie with a very young Ben Affleck, but if you rent it on Prime use headphones. Audio is all fucked up through a surround sound system. At least it was when I rented it a few years back. horror)

The Legend of Drizzt series (and the associated sub-series) by RA Salvatore (fantasy. I stopped reading at the Transitions series--books 20-22--because I personally didn't like them and the way they changed the characters and the setting, but YMMV. I'd highly recommend books 1-19 though. Great fantasy series in my favorite D&D setting, the Forgotten Realms)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (young adult book, but has a great message of individuality and anti-government)

Since you wanted books mostly I'll just breeze through movies, shows, comics and games with a few of my favorites:

Movies - Equilibrium, Lord of the Rings, pre-Disney Star Wars, Alien, Aliens, Predator, Predator 2, Hellraiser 1 + 2, Friday the 13th series, Halloween series, The Patriot, In the Mouth of Madness, Sonic the Hedgehog 1 + 2

Shows - Jericho, X-Files, Star Trek (OS, TNG and DS9 especially. Anything nu-Trek is easily skippable), Chernobyl, Avatar The Last Airbender, Lost (it's not confusing if you just pay attention!)

Anime - Fullmetal Alchemist (both series are good but Brotherhood follows the manga more closely), Death Note, Bungo Stray Dogs, Yowamushi Pedal, Ace of Diamond, Yuri on Ice (super gay but funny and heartwarming and not woke beyond the two male leads being stupidly in love with each other even if it's never mentioned explicitly), Street Fighter II V. Honestly most anime isn't woke at all, so just look around for things that seem interesting to you and you're probably good there

Comics - Batman: No Man's Land, Batman: Knightfall, Batman: Bruce Wayne Murderer/Fugitive, Batman: The Killing Joke, any Marvel Masterwork collection, any Dark Horse Alien or Predator or Alien vs Predator comic, Spawn. Special mention: Isom and the Rippaverse. The Rippaverse is a new shared comic universe created by Eric July, self-described anarcho-capitalist and contributor to The Blaze that's specifically designed from the ground up to not be woke and offer a customer first mentality. They promise that the various books they're planning on releasing will focus on story and characters, not politics or social justice crap. So far, only Isom #1 has come out, and I haven't gotten my copy yet, but most people who've read it seem to love it, and that one comic alone has already sold over 43,000 copies and made $3.7 million so early adopting is probably a safe bet.

Games - Metal Gear Solid series, Batman: Arkham series, Halo 1-3, Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Greedfall, Dishonored series, Edge of Eternity, Metro series, Mafia 1+2, Elden Ring. Pretty much any game before the mid-2010s is a safe bet for non-woke, so like anime, you should just look at older games you think you might like, or their remasters, and go from there.

So that's my list. It's by no means complete, and there's no real order to the recs, so just look them up and see what, if anything, appeals to you. If you, or anyone else, want more specific recommendations or an opinion on a certain title or series that I mentioned or even ones I didn't, feel free to ask. I'll help if I can. Mostly what I read and watch are sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and things like that. I don't really read typical bestsellers or westerns or comedies. So I might be much help with those genres.

[lqtraintracks]

Okay I think @sitp-recs and @academicdisasterfic tagged me for this?? Thanks, guys!

5 Movies, 4 Songs, 3 Essentials, 2 Books, 1 Quote

This is crap. I want 5 books not movies, UGH! Okay.

Movies:

Wonder Boys

Contact

Call Me By Your Name

The Matrix

Moving Malcolm

(tip of the hat to Billy Eliot; I BAWLED at the end of that movie!)

Songs:

[I'll have you know this is CRUEL. And this is based on today. Tomorrow, my answers change.]

It's All So Incredibly Loud by Glass Animals (thanks to this goes to @lou-ifyouwant ; this SONG, my God.)

Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz Blood and Fire by Indigo Girls New York by Snow Patrol

Essentials:

Music

Books

Friends

Books:

Two? TWO????

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

(but fuck this meme)

Quote:

"I am a human being, meant to be in perpetual becoming. If I am living bravely, my entire life will become a million deaths and rebirths. My goal is not to remain the same but to live in such a way that each day, year, moment, relationship, conversation, and crisis is the material I use to become a truer, more beautiful version of myself. The goal is to surrender, constantly, who I just was in order to become who this next moment calls me to be. I will not hold onto a single existing idea, opinion, identity, story, or relationship that keeps me from emerging new. I cannot hold too tightly to any riverbank. I must let go of the shore in order to travel deeper and see farther. Again and again and then again. Until the final death and rebirth. Right up until then." ~ Glennon Doyle, 'Untamed'.

I'm going to tag: @julcheninred @nv-md @lou-isfake @wolfpants @the-starryknight @writcraft @capipuff @magpiefngrl @onbeinganangel and @veelawings

[rabdoidal]

TMA entities as horror movies for Halloween 2020 

THE BURIED – The Decent (2005)

A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.

Dir. Neil Marshall

THE CORRUPTION – [REC] (2007)

A television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.

Dir. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza

THE DARK – Lights Out (2016)

Rebecca must unlock the terror behind her little brother's experiences that once tested her sanity, bringing her face to face with a supernatural spirit attached to their mother.

Dir. David F. Sandberg

THE DESOLATION – House of Wax (2005)

A group of teens are unwittingly stranded near a strange wax museum and soon must fight to survive and keep from becoming the next exhibit.

Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra

THE END – Re-Animator (1985)

After an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.

Dir. Stuart Gordon

THE EXTINCTION – 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

After getting in a car accident, a woman is held in a shelter with two men, who claim the outside world is affected by a widespread chemical attack.

Dir. Dan Trachtenberg

THE EYE – Cabin in The Woods (2011)

Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin, where they get more than they bargained for, discovering the truth behind the cabin in the woods.

Dir. Drew Goddard

THE FLESH – The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Two siblings and three of their friends en route to visit their grandfather's grave in Texas end up falling victim to a family of cannibalistic psychopaths and must survive the terrors of Leatherface and his family.

Dir. Tobe Hooper

THE HUNT – Ready or Not (2019)

A bride's wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game.

Dir. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

THE LONELY – Hush (2016)

A deaf and mute writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.

Dir. Mike Flanagan

THE SLAUGHTER – The Loved Ones (2009)

When Brent turns down his classmate Lola's invitation to the prom, she concocts a wildly violent plan for revenge.

Dir. Sean Byrne

THE SPIRAL – Midsommar (2019)

A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown's fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.

Dir. Ari Aster

THE STRANGER – Us (2019)

A family's serene beach vacation turns to chaos when their doppelgängers appear and begin to terrorize them.

Dir. Jordan Peele

THE VAST – Event Horizon (1997)

A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board

Dir. Paul Anderson

THE WEB – Saw (2004)

Two strangers awaken in a room with no recollection of how they got there, and soon discover they're pawns in a deadly game perpetrated by a notorious serial killer.

Dir. James Wan

[winterscaptain]

immovable object.

Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader a joyful future fic

a/n: happy birthday aaron hotchner!! here’s a little something i cooked up, just for y’all who wanted to see something from aaron’s point of view. i figured a birthday would be as good a time as any to share a little bit of aaron’s head, even if it’s not his (actual) age this year. as always, i love to hear what you think! takes place au!november 2018

words: 2.3k warnings: language, implication of sex, light drinking/alcohol use

summary: “the years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. you are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.” - t.s. elliot

masterlist | a joyful future masterlist | ajf faq | requests closed!

Fifty. 

Aaron wasn’t sure where he’d be by fifty. He’d only had loose examples over the course of his life, as his father kicked it before he got to that point. But then again…

His father never appreciated what he had. Two sons, different to the point of extremity, a wife who loved him even through all his (many) shortcomings, and a big house in northern Virginia that he could afford with his very plush salary working on The Hill as a prosecutor. Nevertheless, he drank himself to death at forty-seven. 

So…

Where am I at fifty? 

He looks down into his lap, finding Caroline tucked into the crook of his elbow with a hand in her mouth while they sit in his armchair. She’s teething now, but she isn’t half as unbearable about it as Isaac. 

Isaac. 

Aaron scans the room, finding his son with Spencer and Hank at the formal dining room table. Spence has them both in his lap and reads aloud from whatever Russian novel he’s flying through. As Aaron listens closer, he realizes Spencer is translating as he goes, reading the book in English. 

Tolstoy should be fine for toddlers...right?

Another scan sends him to you, sitting on the floor with a bottle and a spit-up rag, Sophia snarfing down her afternoon snack like it’s her job. 

You find his eyes, double-taking a little. What?

Nothing. Aaron’s mouth presses into an amused little line. 

With a fond roll of your eyes, you turn back into the conversation with Sean and Derek. 

And that’s another thing. 

Aaron never expected to really have his brother in his life as an adult. To his surprise, it's a rather pleasant change of circumstance. Once he moved out of New York and back to Virginia, Sean really got his act together. The arrival of his second nephew didn’t hurt. At your behest, Aaron called him in Isaac’s first weeks, inviting him over to meet the new addition. He feels silly now, for starting a spat with you about it in the moment. It’s not easy, but it’s good. 

He’s the first one to admit that you did most of the heavy lifting, leveraging your similar age and propensity to draw flocks of the struggling and confused. 

Your Honor, I’d like to present Exhibit A in regard to struggling and confused - Aaron Benjamin Hotchner - before the court. 

He laughs down his nose at his own train of thought. Caroline fusses, but once she’s sitting up in his lap, one of his hands across the entirety of her chest and little belly, she’s happy. 

Will she continue to insist on seeing everything? Will she always be so quiet? 

There’s something about Caroline’s eyes, even as they continue to settle into their permanent color, that is inherently wise. He knows, logically, that Caroline and Sophia are near-identical, but neither of you have ever had any trouble telling them apart. 

If someone asked, he wouldn’t be able to articulate the differences. He just knows. 

Aaron almost startles when you appear at his side, Sophia freshly burped and smooshed against your shoulder. 

“You look pensive.” It’s a gentle accusation. 

Aaron snorts. “It’s my birthday. I’m allowed to be pensive.” He holds Caroline up for a minute and you accept the invitation, planting yourself in his lap. Sophia’s still in your arms, so it’s a bit crowded, but nevertheless, you swing your legs over the arm of the chair and melt against Aaron’s chest. 

The girls, of course, are delighted to see each other and make a happy, babbling pair sitting on your abdomen and thighs, watching all the action in the living room. 

Aaron presses a kiss to your head and just for another second wonders how he got so lucky. 

“Hey. Quit.”

He looks down, meeting your eyes. “What?”

You look at him, soft and affectionate. “You’ll never stop, will you?” 

“Probably not.” He adjusts again so he can cradle you in his arm while he keeps the girls stable with his free hand. “But that’s why I’ve got you.” 

“Unstoppable force meets immovable object?”

Aaron squints, making play at thinking. “Wasn’t that on our wedding announcements?” 

You huff a laugh and pat his chest twice. “Maybe it should have been.” 

Realistically, he knows he should be out socializing with everyone there to celebrate him and the fifty years he’s lived (only a couple of them in dog years), but he can’t bring himself to care. His cheek rests against your head, his fingers tracing patterns on your arm. Caroline has the other one of his hands, playing with his fingers (and putting those in her mouth, too) while Sophia sits back against him, threatening sleep. 

But really, nobody minds. They’re all having too much fun off the clock, with children of their own. Derek and Savannah lounge in the rec room, watching Tara, Sean, Will, Jack, and Henry play Mario Kart. Not far off is Kristy, wiping illicit frosting off her oldest son’s cheek before he rejoins the boys on the makeshift tournament arena. 

Matt, Dave, and Emily are gathered around the kitchen island, their wine glasses never far from their hands. JJ flits between the groups, her puttering instincts inescapable even outside of her domain. 

Luke and Penelope pretend they aren’t following each other from room to room, activity to activity. They are horrible actors, and Aaron wonders if the kid will ever pluck up the guts to do something about it. 

You didn’t. 

That doesn’t count. 

Yes, it does. 

JJ finally comes to rest beside Emily, propping herself up by her elbows as she sits backward on one of the barstools. “I’d never thought I’d see Hotch so happy.” 

Emily looks over her shoulder. What does she see?

She sees a man she’s known her entire career at the bureau, a man who hand-picked her to replace him when it was time for him to leave his post as unit chief, a man who lost almost everything and somehow found it again. 

She watches as Aaron says something to you, a wicked kind of humorous glint in his eye. She watches as you let out a loud laugh, accidentally startling your daughters in your lap. She watches as the girls process and pick up on their mother’s joy and start to shriek and clap. 

She watches Aaron live. 

“I dunno,” Emily says, finally. “I always thought those two might make it if they faced themselves.”

JJ humphs in the irony of it. “That’s a lot to ask.” 

“And yet -”

“- Somehow, they’ve managed.” JJ looks to her own family just in time to see Will taking advantage of the high ceiling, throwing Michael into the air and catching him. “It’s kind of funny, how things work out.” 

“I can’t believe he’s fifty.” Emily’s non-sequitur drops into JJ’s thoughts, which were rapidly devolving into the abstract. “It doesn’t seem right.” 

Dave taps Emily on the shoulder, reminding her he’s been there the whole time. “You’re in your late forties, I might remind you.” 

A kind of dissatisfied noise leaves her throat. “Thanks.” She turns, looking at him with a glare that could cut glass, but all in play. “Thanks for that.” 

“Just doing my civic duty.” 

Emily rolls her eyes and stands, wandering farther into the kitchen to pilfer a bag of animal crackers from the snack drawer. 

“Alright!” Penelope calls from the kitchen archway. “It’s time for cake!” 

That gets the attention of all the children in the vicinity who have experienced the unadulterated joy of Aunt Penelope’s buttercream frosting. 

Aaron tolerates the attention as you and the girls get shuffled (or in your case, shuffle yourself) off his lap. Emily takes Caroline while Savannah has Sophia. A quick glance finds Isaac on Dave's hip. With a little bit of a start, he realizes just how big his family is. They’re all here. 

For each other. 

For him. 

Soon enough, Penelope brings the cake - candles all lit (and no, there are not fifty of them - that was a hard no from the birthday boy) and places it in front of Aaron at the head of the dining room table. 

You kiss him on the cheek, distracting him while you put a ridiculous party hat on his head. You can almost feel his eye roll and you hear a few phone cameras click. Of course, shortly after, everyone starts singing at him - horrifically out of pace and key, but it’s perfect. 

He’s confronted with the back of a few more phones as parents and friends snap pictures out of habit. He reaches out to snag you around the waist and you end up half-sitting on the arm of his chair. 

You loop your arms around his neck, leaning into his side. “Make a wish.”

After one slow blink and a deep breath, he blows out the candles to whoops and hollers and baby shrieks. 

Your eyes snap up out of instinct, finding Isaac covering his ears and looking more and more alarmed by the minute. You toss another kiss onto Aaron’s forehead and quickly take Isaac from Dave, traveling down the hall with practiced haste. 

If he’s honest, Aaron forgot. He should have grabbed Isaac’s headphones from your office, but he didn’t. He should have warned his son about the loud noises and all the people before they overwhelmed him, but he didn’t. He should have remembered that his son needed more thought and attention than the others, but he didn’t. 

He hides his self-directed frustration well, but it doesn’t take long for him to make a quick and subtle escape. He knows the girls are just fine. Emily has Caro well in-hand and Savannah is always looking for an excuse to practice with the girls. She’s due in February, looking radiant and lovely. 

In a near-whisper, he calls for you and Isaac as he tracks down the hall on light feet. He hears you murmur, then Isaac’s voice: “Here, Dad,” guides him into your office, where you’re stationed on the floor under your desk. 

Isaac’s playing with the soft carpet chosen especially for him, his little fingers getting lost in the plush fabric. Aaron kneels down and rests his forearms on the ground, searching for Isaac’s eyes. 

“Hey, little man.” 

He hums. 

That’s a good thing. 

Aaron puts his hand on the carpet, about three inches away from Isaac’s. He can see it, but it’s not touching him, communicating his presence without sensation. 

You meet Aaron’s eyes over Isaac’s head. Not your fault. 

He shoots you a withering look. 

I’m serious, Aaron. You raise your eyebrows and shake your head. Not your fault. We’re okay. Your eyes flicker to Isaac before returning to Aaron. He’s okay. 

Aaron watches as you arc your body around him, getting close but not too close, running your fingers through the carpet on either side of him. Aaron wiggles his own fingers, sinking deeper into the blue shag. To his surprise, it calms him a little. 

Little Man might be onto something here. 

Eventually, Isaac leans back into you, and you slowly bring your hands to his hair, massaging his scalp with the tips of your fingers. You look at Aaron and nod once. 

He takes his cue. As always, he’s in awe of your command over Isaac’s needs. With a breath, and very quietly, he asks. “Are you feeling better, little man?”

His eyes still on the carpet, he nods. “Just loud.” 

“Yeah. It was pretty loud.” He looks up to the bookshelf, spotting his headphones on their charger. “Do you want to go back to the living room, maybe with your ears on? Or do you want to stay in here?”

The boy stills, thinking. In the two years he’s known his son, the turning of gears in Isaac’s little head enamors and amazes him. He can almost see their spokes behind his eyes. After a minute or so - 

“Living room, but only for a little while.” 

You kiss him lightly on the top of his head, where the band of the headphones rests. “Do you want your ears?”

He nods and Aaron rises, bringing the headphones back down. Isaac puts them on and wiggles a little where he sits. Aaron likes to imagine it’s his way of settling back into his body. 

Much to the surprise of everyone present, Isaac reaches out to Aaron. With soft eyes, he takes his son in his arms, letting him wrap like a koala around his neck and chest. 

The three of you return, finding everyone still milling about, eating cake, and sharing space together. Jack, catching sight of you, jogs over. “Is Isaac okay?”

You nod, brushing the hair off Jack’s forehead. “Yeah, bud. It just got a little overwhelming for a minute.”

It’s been eleven years of you and Jack, but it never gets old for Aaron. The way you are with each other - somehow balancing a parent-child relationship with a steadfast best-friendship - constantly surprises and warms him. 

Jack nods, circling around so he can get into Isaac’s eye line. He waves a little, and Isaac waves back, lifting his hand briefly from Aaron’s collar. Jack offers a fist, and Isaac reaches out to tap it with three of his fingers. 

Aaron closes his eyes, taking it in. 

+++

“So,” you say, tucking into bed beside him. “Fifty.” 

“So,” He doesn’t pull his eyes from his book. “Thirty-six.” He throws you a side-eye, immediately noticing the playful glint in your eye. “Don’t start.” 

You raise your eyebrows, the picture of innocence. “Start what? I’m just appreciating my loving and handsome and thoughtful and distinguished husband on his birthday.” You scoot and shift, straddling him. “Are you gonna let me?”

That gets his attention. Keeping his eyes on you, he markes his place and sets the book on his bedside table. “I might.” 

You lean down, pressing your lips to his, speaking quietly against his mouth, like a secret. “Happy Birthday, my love.” 

If anyone asked, Aaron loved his present. 

+++

tagging: @arganfics @quillvine @stxrryspencer @agenthotchner @wandaswitxh @hurricanejjareau @ughitsbaby @rousethemouse @criminalsmarts @shrimpyblog @genevievedarcygranger @ssaic-jareau @good-heavens-chris-evans @angelsbabey @writefasttalkevenfaster @venusbarnes @hotchsflower @ogmilkis @marvels-agents100 @hotchslatte @risenfox @mrs-dr-reid @captain-christopher-pike @dwellingsofrosie @pan-pride-12 @sunshine-em @jdougl-love @sageellsworth05 @dreila03 @forgottenword @aaronhotchnerr @ssa-morgan @buckybau @tegggeeee @abschaffer2 @ssacandice-ray @ellyhotchner @lotties-journey-abroad @mrs-joel-pimentel-23-25 @laneygthememequeen @violentvulgarvolatile @mooneylupinblack @ssareidbby @violet-amxthyst @zizzlekwum @lcvischmitt @qvid-pro-qvo @mandylove1000 @simsiddy @jeor @synonymforlame @roses-and-grasses @bwbatta @capricorngf @missdowntonabbey @averyhotchner @cevanswhre @joanofarkansass @infinity1321 @popped-weasels @evee87 @nuvoleincielo @spencerelds @ssahotchnerr @this-broken-band-girl @winqhster @reidtomestyles @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @the-falling-in-the-danger @nattylite49 @crazyshannonigans @softbibxtch @iconicc @mangoberry43 @andreasworlsboring101

[gffa]

hello lumi! I just want to say that I absolutely adore your blog and you’re honestly one of the people that took me from casual Star Wars movie fan to someone more interested in legends and the extended canon. Just thank you for everything that you do, following you has been a delight. :)

I have kind of a large request so please don’t feel the need to respond if you don’t want to but you’re the person that came to mind when I first started looking into this. So basically I wanted to start going through all of the canon Star Wars media and books but looking at the lists of canon material, I realized there was lots of media that I’m interested in reading/playing that is not canon like the Knights of the Old Republic games or the Jedi Apprentice series. It just got me thinking about other really good Star Wars books or comics that I would be skipping over just going by canon content. So my question is this, for someone just dipping their toes into Legends, what are your recommendations for must-reads and where do they fit in the canon timeline? Again, no worries if you don’t want to answer, I know this can be a loaded question. Happy belated birthday and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day/night!!!

Hi!  Thank you for the birthday wishes!!  And for the very kind comments, I am deeply honored to have helped dragged you into this hellpit and also terribly sorry about it at the same time. 😂 I don’t mind giving Legends recs, as long as you know that my frame of reference with them isn’t as strong as my LF canon one is (and even that’s been waning as the books get less and less satisfying for me) so I’m not going to be able to give as wide of a recommendation set as you might hope. But I can give you some good places to start! - Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover is one of those books that set the standard for novelizing a movie and adding onto it, it takes an already great movie and just knocks it out of the park with all the depth it gives the story.  I’d also recommend Shatterpoint by him as well, though, I haven’t gotten terribly far into it yet, it’s Stover, so I’ll recommend it. - Wild Space by Karen Miller is a book that I can’t necessarily say is good, but that it’s still probably my favorite SW book ever just because it’s so incredibly quotable.  I have a lot of issues with it (it’s not great at Jedi philosophy, it doesn’t earn its ending, it feels like two separate books stitched together, etc.), but the sheer amount of HIGH DRAMA and how hilarious that is, as well as quotes I love to pull from it make for a scream of a read. - Yoda: Dark Rendezvous by Sean Stewart is probably the book that best captures the Jedi, as well as Yoda’s character and Dooku feelings, so I would highly recommend this one, too! -  I haven’t finished either Labyrinth of Evil or The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno, but I’ve liked everything I’ve read from him before, so I give these a cautious rec.  I’ve also heard good about The Cestus Deception and Darth Plagueis. - I think the Republic series of comics is pretty worth reading, though, sometimes it can get pretty wild.  If you have a strong stomach for dramatics, you may enjoy this one a lot! - If you want some more batshit, off the wall, lighthearted stuff, anything to do with the 2003 Clone Wars series are GREAT.  The animated series is just completely fucking bananas in the absolute best way and the comics are kids’ fair but they absolutely capture the chaotic energy of the show in a way that makes them SO MUCH FUN to read. - I go back and forth on the Jedi Apprentice/Jedi Quest series, like, I think you have to approach them knowing that you may well not be the target audience for them, as well as understand that the early ones were started around the time TPM first came out, so the prequel movies weren’t even finished by the time they were being written and it shows in a lot of the worldbuilding, as well as you can’t make sense of them as logical, so much as “what’s an exciting story for a kid to read?” imo.  But if you can go in with that mindset, there’s a lot you can really enjoy about the books, as long as you don’t let fandom ruin them for you.  XD (If anyone else has any recs, feel free to mention them, as mentioned, I’m not as deep into Legends as I was with the canon, so my recs are fairly bog-standard prequels-centric ones!)

[ablogwithoutacoolusername]

I'm Carving Pumpkins (It's Almost Halloween)

From July-ish until now, I have been watching one horror movie a day to make a list that nobody will see. Did an "out of 10" rating system that was meant to be for how much they scared me and nothing else, but things got a bit skewed if the movie gave me good characters, plot, acting, visual techniques, etc. Anyways... here are the movies and happy Halloween!

(PLEASE be safe if you're planning on watching any of these and look for trigger warnings. Doesthedogdie.com is a really good site to use for a multitude of warnings)

1/10 - Why did you make this?

Delirium (2018, dir. Johnny Martin)

Escape Room (2019, dir. Adam Robitel)

Brahms: The Boy II (2020, dir. William Brent Bell) - dog dies

2/10 - Better than nothing

Christmas Evil (1980, dir. Lewis Jackson)

Dead Alive (1992, dir. Peter Jackson) - dog dies

Ghost Ship (2002, dir. Steve Beck)

Freddy vs. Jason (2003, dir. Ronny Yu)

Hide and Seek (2005, dir. John Polson)

The Cabin in the Woods (2011, dir. Drew Goddard)

It Follows (2014, dir. David Robert Mitchell)

3/10 - At least you tried

A Blade in the Dark (1983, dir. Lamberto Bava)

Re-Animator (1985, dir. Stuart Gordon)

Chopping Mall (1986, dir. Jim Wynorski)

Identity (2003, dir. James Mangold)

The Grudge (2004, dir. Takashi Shimizu)

The Skeleton Key (2005, dir. Iain Softley)

Hatchet (2006, dir. Adam Green)

The Inheritance (2011, dir. Robert O'Hara)

No Solicitors (2015, dir. John Callas)

Don't Breathe (2016, dir. Fede Álvarez)

Wounds (2019, dir. Babak Anvari)

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019, dir. Dan Gilroy)

4/10 - Some things right

Stage Fright (1950, dir. Alfred Hitchcock) - dog death implied

The Fog (1980, dir. John Carpenter)

Maniac (1980, dir. William Lustig)

Beetlejuice (1988, dir. Tim Burton)

What Lies Beneath (2000, dir. Robert Zemeckis)

Wrong Turn (2003, dir. Rob Schmidt)

Secret Window (2004, dir. David Koepp) - dog dies

[Rec] (2007, dir. Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza) - implied dog death

The Stepfather (2009, dir. Nelson McCormick)

The Thing (2011, dir. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.) - dog dies

Bite (2015, dir. Chad Archibald)

The Gift (2015, dir. Joel Edgerton)

Crimson Peak (2015, dir. Guillermo del Toro) - dog dies

The Bye Bye Man (2017, dir. Stacy Title)

Clinical (2017, dir. Alistair Legrand)

The Raking (2017, dir. Bryan Brewer)

The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018, dir. Diederik van Rooijen)

5/10 - Average

Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

The Innocents (1961, dir. Jack Clayton)

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981, dir. William Asher)

Happy Birthday to Me (1981, dir. J. Lee Thompson)

Videodrome (1983, dir. David Cronenberg)

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986, dir. John McNaughton)

Casper (1995, dir. Brad Silberling)

The Mist (2007, dir. Frank Darabont)

Insidious (2010, dir. James Wan)

Bird Box (2018, dir. Susanne Bier)

Doctor Sleep (2019, dir. Mike Flanagan)

Sputnik (2020, dir. Egor Abramenko)

6/10 - Getting interesting

The Wicker Man (1973, dir. Robin Hardy)

Halloween (1978, dir. John Carpenter) - 2 dogs die

Sleepaway Camp (1983, dir. Robert Hiltzik)

Intruder (1989, dir. Scott Spiegel)

The Sixth Sense (1999, dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

Shutter (2008, dir. Masayuki Ochiai)

Mama (2013, dir. Andrés Muschietti)

The Conjuring (2013, dir. James Wan) - dog dies

The Witch (2015, dir. Robert Eggers) - dog dies

The Boy (2016, dir. William Brent Bell)

Gerald's Game (2017, dir. Mike Flanagan)

1922 (2017, dir. Zak Hilditch)

Winchester (2018, dir. Michael and Peter Spierig)

Relic (2020, dir. Natalie Erika James)

7/10 - Pretty good

The Birds (1963, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Friday the 13th (1980, dir. Sean S. Cunningham)

My Bloody Valentine (1981, dir. George Mihalka)

An American Werewolf in London (1981, dir. John Landis)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, dir. Wes Craven)

Misery (1990, dir. Rob Reiner)

Scream (1996, dir. Wes Craven)

The Others (2001, dir. Alejandro Amenábar)

28 Days Later (2002, dir. Danny Boyle)

Cabin Fever (2003, dir. Eli Roth) - dog dies

The Descent (2005, dir. Neil Marshall)

Saw IV (2007, dir. Darren Lynn Bousman)

The Woman in Black (2012, dir. James Watkins)

Poltergeist (2015, dir. Gil Kenan)

Lights Out (2016, dir. David F. Sandberg)

8/10 - Very interesting

A Clockwork Orange (1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick)

The Last House on the Left (1972, dir. Wes Craven) - dog death implied

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, dir. Tobe Hooper)

Alien (1979, dir. Ridley Scott)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, dir. Jonathan Demme)

Candyman (1992, dir. Bernard Rose)

Evil Dead (2013, dir. Fede Álvarez) - dog dies

Hush (2016, dir. Mike Flanagan)

The Ritual (2017, dir. David Bruckner)

Slender Man (2018, dir. Sylvain White)

9/10 - Scared enough my heart stopped

The Wizard of Gore (1970, dir. Herschell Gordon Lewis)

Hostel (2005, dir. Eli Roth)

10/10 - Holy fucking shit that was terrifying never again (presses replay)

1408 (2007, dir. Mikael Håfström)

Martyrs (2008, dir. Pascal Laugier)

Antebellum (2020, dir. Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz)

[scaryscarecrows]

Bat-recs

Y’know, for fun! Add your favorites; we were all new to this hell at some point, maybe this could be useful for someone.

Batman: Gothic

This was actually the second one I bought; it came across my table when I volunteered at a used library books organization. Two bucks. Immortal murderer? Haunted underwater monastery? Generally freaky? Sign me up! NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE WEE BABES, we got child murder, mentions of sexual assaults, and a literal head in the trash can. Poor Bruce. This story put him through the absolute wringer and I want to hug him.

The Cult

Also freaky! Bane says he broke Batman. Bane broke Batman a few years LATER; Blackfire...jeeze, man. (So far, two for two on the whole ‘immortal evil religious figure’. Hm.) Psychological horror out to HERE, and there’s a couple of pages that just WORK so WELL, when Robin!Jason finally finds poor Bruce. Also not for children, here there be a lotta bodies. And rats. And Bruce being...uh...well, we don’t need to talk about that now.

Scarecrow Year One

MY FIRST AND FAVORITE. (Ahh, evil religious individual! But not immortal this time.) Jonathan Crane’s backstory-one of them-with bonus Batdad content. Sean Murphy's sketchy artwork works really, really well for, well, Scarecrow, and Baby Crane is a little cutie. Protect him at all costs. Eh, if you or your kid’s a frightened type, the swarms of attacking crows might be a bit much, but there’s no corpse-stacks or child murder this time.

Li’l Gotham

Tired of everything hurting? Say no more. Tooth-rotting fluff is HERE. Batfamily getting along. Damian loves his mom and she loves him back and I am HAPPY ABOUT IT. This is what you’d think DC is like all the time, based on fic. Worth having for when they inevitably ruin something else. The same team has since done Once Upon a Crime, which is also precious.

White Knight

Did I see ‘Sean Murphy’ and smash the preorder? Yeah. Do I decree that this Ivy design is the best Ivy? Yeah. Elseworlds/Black Label, so he’s free to deconstruct Batman...and Batman’s proclivity for destroying Gotham in the pursuit of one asshole. (I feel a little called out, given my driving in Arkham Knight.) Has a sequel, and I’m waiting for the TP, but I’m sure I’ll love it just the same. Harley’s looking good here, guys; she is taking no shit AND she’s not being treated as a bimbo. She has brains and she’s not afraid to use them! Eh, mild nudity and violence, but barring Jason Todd’s standard woes, I’d rate it about the same as SYO in terms of ‘will this traumatize my kid?’

Under the Red Hood

1) No kids. There’s a bag o’ severed heads lovingly detailed like, five pages in. Red Hood ain’t Batman, a fact that he would like to make very clear.

2) THE SASS. THE SAAAAAAASS. EVERYBODY IS A SNARKY BASTARD AND I LOVE IT ALL. Well, almost all. I will grant that the animated film fixed my one big grievance with the ending. :) Seriously, though, ‘oh, my goodness gracious! I’ve been bamboozled!’ is golden and I’m WAITING for that line to make it to screen. Don’t be cowards, DC.

Haunted Knight

Everyone’s gonna rec The Long Halloween, as well they ought, but Haunted Knight-same team-is also great. Scarecrow’s design is...I’m torn between loving it and wanting to yeet it into the sun, but it works for him. This is a short story collection featuring Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, and and a Bat-ified Christmas Carol.

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

OKAY. This is sort of like The Long Halloween in that it’s frequently considered ‘required reading’, but I do legitimately enjoy it; it’s very, very, creepy. THIS is where the Arkham Asylum game takes a lot of its inspiration; the Rogues do not go to Batman. He goes to them. This also establishes Arkham’s history. I will say that you should pick up a newer edition with the annotated script included (most of them have it now) because there’s a LOT of symbolism in the art that you might miss, and knowing it really adds to the experience. I’d totally teach this in a psych class, though. Or an English class. It’s great. Bonus for everybody having their own style of dialogue: Joker does not have speech bubbles, for instance, Bruce is  black and white. Really gives you an idea of how they talk. It’s also nice that most of the Gallery gets some page time, even if they don’t talk; Scarecrow, for instance, has no dialogue, but he doesn’t need it. His presence is enough. Hard R-rating for scary images and implied childhood sexual abuse.

The Animated Series

Yup. Start here. START. HERE. Every major rogue (and several obscure ones) gets an episode in the limelight, Bruce is at his absolute best-that perfect combo of ‘gettin’ real tired of your shit, Villain of the Week’ and the compassion that’s gone missing lately-Harley looks great (and, y’know, LIKE A HARLEQUIN), and although it is kid-friendly, it doesn’t treat the viewer like a kid, so you can enjoy it as an adult. (You’re a lying liar who lies if Baby Doll’s episodes didn’t make you teary-eyed. It’s okay. There’s no shame to be had.) Bonus: Dick Grayson is a little ray of sunshine compared to Batman, but that’s not all he is and the writers remembered that. :) And, well...

Iconic.

The Arkham Series

These are almost the animated series for a more mature audience (complete with a lot of the same voice casting!); murder is now allowed to be confirmed. If you’re intimidated by the comics, this is also a good place to start. Again, all the major rogues and a few lesser-knowns get some time to shine, the characterization is working (Bruce is not here for Joker’s shit, but he can still take a minute to calm down a panicking guard), and yeah, I love the designs.

Look at my baby. THAT is legitimately frightening. 10/10, would run from again. Bonus: not only do we get Alfred, we get three whole Robins AND Oracle. That said, while the games give you PLENTY of options to go ‘I’m Batman’, Bruce takes almost none of them, so you have to do it. You gotta. It’s the law.

EDITED TO INCLUDE

Gotham County Line

Batman deals with the psychological guilt of not being able to save everyone, and there are...zombies. Sort of. Amazingly, Scarecrow is nowhere to be seen, yet Bruce does admit, straight-up, ‘I’m afraid’. Me too, Bruce. Me, too. 

10/10 for creep factor here. I went into this unaware it was possible to be scared of Alfred. It is. It is possible. I am a changed woman now. Nothing really...comes of it...but I swear, I turned the page, and this was waiting for me:

Mommy...

Also unsettling; the hanged man in general. A+ unsettling artwork, I’m sure that guy will haunt me. Added bonus: Zombie Robin Jason popping in to save Bruce’s bacon, because he is a good boy, and Zombie Waynes being proud parents. I did not expect the Feels Crowbar...but it was a nice surprise.

[toshio]

been rewatching “Durarara!!” lately, and it’s one of my favorite animes (biased from nostalgia but whatever). the show is a bit complicated to explain, but to sum it up:

it follows the story of a “headless horseman” or “Dullahan” (irish mythological creature) which is basically a “headless rider” who carries their head while riding on a black horse [said to be the embodiment of a Celtic god or something like that]. anyway, it sounds crazy, but bear with me for a bit. the anime makes its own rules of course, so the headless horseman is a badass chick named Celty Sturluson (she wears a cute yellow kitty helmet) and she’s easily the most lovable character in the series who could do no harm. the premise of the story is that she’s an immortal entity that traveled from Ireland to Japan (Ikebukuro) who came searching for her missing head that she lost centuries ago. will she find it? watch Durarara!! and find out (no but she’s got super OP powers like being able to create weapons like scythes and knives out of thin air with her mysterious powers).

the entire show takes place in the restless city of Ikebukuro, Japan and there exists an online + anonymous gang called “Dollars” and you really feel immersed into the setting, because they somehow are able to make you feel involved in their online chat rooms as they gossip about city drama. i’m always a huge fan of anime shows that take place in big cities because i’m naturally a city person, so i find it very chaotic, yet rhythmic and soothing compared to those quiet, boring suburban neighborhoods.

aside from Celty, the entire cast is pretty diverse, the opening theme tells you all of the main/minor characters names and you learn more about each character’s life every few episodes which build character development - tying the overall plot of the story together while giving enough context. there’s 2 openings and 2 ending songs (25 episodes total) and the first ending song was my absolute FAVORITE because it shows all of the characters holding each other in one really long image, it’s super wholesome and awesome because of how symbolic it is (it even became an internet meme template that people still love today).

i could honestly go on about this anime for hours, but two of the most fan-favorite characters at the time were Shizuo (blonde) and Izaya (smug twink with fur hood jacket) who absolutely despise each other (more context will be given after you watch just a few episodes). if Shizuo sees Izaya on the streets, he starts going FERAL and chases after his little skinny ass. their relationship in itself is comic relief genius, and 100% my type of humor. i love these two. any OG anime fans will remember this - they were a cultural reset for the yaoi fangirls in 2010, their ship name is “Shizaya”. good times.

in conclusion, this anime just...hits home for me. it’s nostalgic, it had a way different/unique animation style for 2010 at the time. i’m a hipster weeb nowadays who mostly rewatches old stuff. i seldom indulge myself into newer mainstream animes due to personal reasons. however, i highly recommend Durarara!! if you haven’t seen it. it’s a /must watch/ if you enjoy cityscapes, fictional gang violence, supernatural elements, and the like.

[metamashina]

Welcome to the future, folks! As always, you can find us (and information regarding our upcoming episodes) on Twitter! You can also give us a rate and review on iTunes or donate to help cover our costs! Show notes are below.

READING

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick (1968)

Blade Runner (1982)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Cyberpunk (1990)

Why Blade Runner 2049 is a Misogynistic Mess – Charlotte Gush, 2017

‘Blade Runner’ Anime Series Set at Adult Swim, Crunchyroll – Joe Otterson, 2018

Sean Young alleges Harvey Weinstein flashed her; reveals Blade Runner 2049 disappointment – Adam White, 2017

RECS

Altered Carbon (2018)

BLADE RUNNER 2049 – “Black Out 2022” – Anime Short (2017)

The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson (1995)

Akira (1988)

CLOSING SOUNDS

Outside an urban rave by MSFX

LINKS

Nat/AshesforFoxes

Twitter

Erin/Holocroning

Twitter

Shi/Ohtze

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