full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Green Hornet (1960’s and 2011 versions), Batman (1960’s), Al Hirt (musician), Bruce Lee
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Britt Reid | Green Hornet, Kato, Bruce Wayne | Batman, Dick Grayson | Robin, cameo by Beatrix Kiddo | The Bride (Kill Bill), Black Beauty is practically a character, right?
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 3:03
Content Notes: Rapid flickering image shifts; earworm hazard.
Creator Links: (Instagram) [instagram.com profile] Dorodigital; (YouTube) [youtube.com profile] Dorodigital
Theme: Amnesty, Crossovers & Fusions, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Fanvids, Older Fandoms, Underloved Works

Summary: What started out as an attempt to learn flight of the bumble bee on the trumpet evolved into a fascination with the green hornet theme song. Although the show featured one of my favorite Martial Artist ..Bruce lee..the main attraction for me was the frentic trumpet solo performed by another hero of mine Mr. Al hirt. This song was also used in the motor cycle scene in kill bill. I was delighted to learn that they were making a movie version in 2011 starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou..Alas there could be only one Bruce lee as well as one Al hirt. However I decided to perform this cover in tribute to Al and Bruce...Enjoy

Reccer's Notes: Two great tastes that taste great together: against a montage of thrilling stunts and snappy dialogue, trumpeter Ricardo Dowridge multiplies himself into an orchestra to celebrate his musical and martial heroes.

Fanwork Links:



One Man’s Green Hornet.mpg, by Ricardo Dowridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8UVF7tkdRw
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Oingo Boingo
Pairings/Characters: Gen; background F->M (Emily ->Victor); Jack Skellington, Bonejangles, and the whole Halloween Town and Underworld crews.
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 4:22
Content Notes: canon-typical death, undeath, decay, dismemberment, creepy-crawlies, monsters, slapstick violence, and Body Horror.
Creator Links: (YouTube) [youtube.com profile] DylanWhitesChannel (formerly [youtube.com profile] weareactualsize)
Theme: Amnesty, Crossovers & Fusions, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Fanvids, Older Fandoms

Summary: Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" mashed with "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride." All copyrights held by original owners. Happy Halloween.
(HD re-edit from my weareactualsize channel)


Reccer's Notes: Although this repost is dated 27 October 2014, the original on White’s now-defunct previous channel dates from circa 2010. This fusion is a relentless tour-de-force of music synced to visuals synced to lyrics; Danny Elfman’s having scored both movies creates a certain built-in compatibility, and Oingo Boingo’s Halloween anthem makes for an Elfman trifecta.

Fanwork Links:


Dead Man’s Party, by Dylan White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndhDaEqjKAc

Pluribus 1.07

Dec. 12th, 2025 01:25 pm
selenak: (Jimmy and Kim)
[personal profile] selenak
In which we get a crossover between a Werner Herzog movie and a Robert Altmann one.

Manousos or the Wrath of God… )
pedanther: (Default)
[personal profile] pedanther posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Tangled
Pairings/Characters: Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Rating: General Audiencees
Length: 714
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] lalaietha
Theme: Amnesty, Old Fandoms, Comfortfic

Summary:
"You know," Eugene's voice comes from the side of the tower, "I am really out of practice in climbing up sheer rock-faced walls and across rickety shingles. D'you think I should start a workout regimen again? I mean, I'd kind of let it slide because these are skills commonly associated with thievery and I'm all reformed, but - "

Reccer's Notes:
In which Rapunzel is feeling overwhelmed by her first birthday celebration that involves more than one person and a chameleon, and Flynn offers sympathy and helpful(?) advice.

Short and sweet, and seemed appropriate for Fancake's birthday.

Fanwork Links: The Next Birthday on AO3

Fancake is FIFTEEN

Dec. 11th, 2025 10:16 am
runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
[personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] fancake

Photograph of a grinning Shiba Inu dog wearing a pink party hat with a 15 on it. Text: Happy Birthday, Fancake. On this day in history, [personal profile] jerakeen made the very first post to this comm. Happy birthday to us!

To celebrate [community profile] fancake's fifteen years of operation, we're taking a two-pronged approach, with thanks to [personal profile] full_metal_ox for suggesting the second prong:

  1. post recs to the comm for fanworks published in 2010 for amnesty (if all else fails, theme: old fandoms should probably cover you, but consider also theme: favorite fanworks, theme: fandom classics, and theme: underloved fanworks)

  2. comment on this post with what you were into when you were fifteen—or what you were into fifteen years ago—what you're into today, and how your tastes have changed—or not!—over the years, or share your thoughts in your own journal and leave us a link here in the comments

  3. a secret third thing???

Happy birthday, Fancake! Thank you for making this comm a community. 🎂

[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by therealmorticia

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) Board of Directors is saddened to announce that Erica Frank and Kathryn Soderholm have resigned from their roles as Board Directors for personal reasons. Their resignations are effective as of December 11, 2025.

Erica was elected to her seat in 2024, and her term was set to end in 2027; her seat will be filled in the upcoming election as a one-year term. Kathryn was elected to her seat in 2023, and was already scheduled to be replaced in the upcoming election. In the meantime, both of their seats will remain vacant.

We would like to thank Erica and Kathryn for their service as members of the Board and for their years as OTW volunteers. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.

The Return (Film Review)

Dec. 11th, 2025 10:04 am
selenak: (Livia by Pixelbee)
[personal profile] selenak
Yes, about a year after it was released in the English speaking world, The Return finally made it to German cinemas, thus still arriving before Christopher Nolan's big budget take on the Odyssey next year. Like many another person, I assume sight unseen that Nolan's take will be pretty much the opposite, given that The Return focuses exclusively on, well, the story of the suitors harrassing Penelope and Telemachus and Odysseuys' return to Ithaca with ensueing consequences, has thrown out the Gods and any other magical elements entirely from the story and takes place solely on Ithaca within a few days with a small ensemble of characters. (Incidentally, the "Penelope and Telemachus on Ithaca/ The Homecoming" part of the story actually is the main tale of the Homeric epic, which reliably surprises everyone who reads it. The adventures with Sirens, Cyclops and Sea Monsters part is contained in the middle where Odysseus (not the most reliable narrator under the best of circumstances) is narrating it to his hosts and a relatively short portion of the story.) All this being said, having now watched it, I would call The Return a good movie with some stellar performances by our leads - Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes uniting their actory prowess for the third time - , but that it fails in one important regard as an adaptation of the Odyssey, and no, it's not because there are no Gods and other supernatural beings around. But again: as a film, it is great and immensely watchable.

Tell me, Muse, about a PTSD ridden war veteran and an island under occupation )
22degreehalo: (GBH hotel)
[personal profile] 22degreehalo posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Night at the Museum
Pairings/Characters: Jedediah/Octavius
Rating: T
Length: 10,180
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] liviapenn
Theme: Amnesty, Cultural Differences, Enemies to Friends (to Lovers), Enemies Working Together, Missing Scenes

Summary: There are secret articles in our treaties with the gods, of more importance than all the rest, which the historian can never know. -- Henry David Thoreau

This hour I tell things in confidence,
I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you.
-- Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Reccer's Notes: This is so much fun, charting the growth in these boys' friendship starting from their trek through the snow in the movie to their awkward, gradual romantic advances post-canon ❤️

Fanwork Links: if this was a cowboy movie (i'd give you my boots)

BG3: Glad Tidings by partingxshot

Dec. 10th, 2025 12:41 pm
22degreehalo: (Nutcracker and the 4 realms)
[personal profile] 22degreehalo posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
Pairings/Characters: Wyll/Astarion
Rating: T
Length: 25,638
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] partingxshot
Theme: Amnesty, Black Characters, Characters of Colour, Character Development, Established Relationship, Family, Just Plain Fun, Marriage, Outsider POV, Politics, Post-Canon, Unconventional Format & Style, Working Together

Summary: You are ULDER RAVENGARD.

Your son is completely besotted with his fiancé, but you can’t figure out the appeal. He’s spoiled, and petty, and seems chiefly concerned with draining the Ravengard coffers. You are, frankly, at your wits’ fucking end.

Surely the only solution is to declare an INSANE SECRET WAR on him before he can ruin the MIDWINTER'S EVE BALL. This cannot possibly backfire.

[A choose-your-own-adventure Astarion son-in-law simulator. Happy Holidays! Or possibly the opposite of that.]

Reccer's Notes: This is just so much fun 😄 The notion of how Astarion would fit in at Wyll's childhood home is a common topic for Wyllstarions, and this is such a fun take on it!! It's remarkably coherent no matter which paths you take, and there are so many fun running jokes or weird endings to find! (And also, if you enjoy the writing style... Might I have a particular webcomic called Homestuck to recommend? Because it was very clearly an inspiration :D)

Fanwork Links: Glad Tidings

I need a Baldur's Gate fandom tag please, mods!!
22degreehalo: (J&W !)
[personal profile] 22degreehalo posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Blackadder Goes Forth
Pairings/Characters: Blackadder/Darling
Rating: T
Length: 20,605
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] nomadicwriter
Theme: Amnesty, Casefic, Cuddling Snuggling & Bed-Sharing, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies Working Together, Forced Proximity, Historical Settings, Just Plain Fun, Old Fandoms, Rare Pairings, Pretend Couple, Small Fandoms, Time Travel, Uncommon Settings, Undercover as a Couple

Summary: Darling's remarkable resemblance to French traitor the Duc de Darling - no relation - sees him unwillingly sent to infiltrate a German-occupied château. Blackadder accompanies him even less willingly, especially when he learns exactly what it is they're looking for.

(Baldrick is also there, but no one bothered to find out if it was willingly or otherwise.)

Reccer's Notes: This is just so fucking good. It has been an age since I last watched Blackadder but this fic brought me all the way back immediately: the character voices are just chef's kiss! It really feels like it could've been a special episode, except with added totally in-character shippiness! 10/10, perfect characterisation, perfect dynamics, perfect silliness, no notes ❤️

Fanwork Links: General Relativity

November 2025 Newsletter, Volume 206

Dec. 8th, 2025 03:30 pm
[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by callmeri

I. SPOTLIGHT ON FANLORE

In November, Fanlore ran the Fanlore No Fault November challenge: a catch-up event for earlier badges editors missed! The challenge ran from November 16 to 30, with many editors participating and earning badges from previous months.

Curious about editing Fanlore? Check out the New Visitor Portal and Tutorial for getting started!

II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

On November 14, we celebrated AO3’s 16th anniversary! \o/

Accessibility, Design & Technology continued to prepare emails for translation and improved how the download and chapter index menus behave with each other on smaller screens.

AO3 Documentation updated the Contacting the Staff FAQ.

Open Doors finished importing Oz Magi, an Oz annual gift exchange, and Stayka’s Saint Seiya Archive, a Saint Seiya archive. They also shared an annual roundup of the fanzine collections created in the last year for fanworks imported through the Fanzine Scan Hosting Project (FSHP) and announced the upcoming import of a Harry Potter archive, PhoenixSong.

In October, Policy & Abuse received 5,061 tickets, setting a record high for the third month in a row. Support received 3,043 tickets. Tag Wrangling wrangled over 600,000 tags, or over 1,380 tags per wrangling volunteer.

Tag Wrangling also continues to create new “No Fandom” canonical tags and announced a new batch of tags for November.

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

TWC continues to prepare for the two upcoming 2026 special issues: “Disability and Fandom” and “Gaming Fandom”. The submission deadline for the two 2027 special issues, “Music Fandom” and “Latin American Fandoms”, is also quickly approaching on January 1.

In November, the OTW filed an Amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court, arguing that the Supreme Court should clarify the rules surrounding who can challenge a trademark registration application. In a case involving whether someone should own the trademark “Rapunzel” for dolls of the character Rapunzel, the OTW argued that the Trademark Office should consider the interests of the public—including fans—in deciding whether to award private ownership over a word or symbol that may be in the public domain.

Legal also worked with Communications on a news post about recent legislation and have responded to a number of comments and queries on this post and other issues.

IV. GOVERNANCE

Board continued work on annual turnover and meeting with all committees. They made progress on the OTW Procurement Policy and expected to get it finalized soon. They, along with the Board Assistants Team, also continued to work with Volunteers & Recruiting and Organizational Culture Roadmap on the ongoing Code of Conduct review.

Development & Membership has been catching up on post-Drive tasks.

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

December 5 was International Volunteers Day! As a volunteer-run organization, the OTW would not be possible without the support and diligence of our volunteers. We thank all our volunteers, past and present, for the work they’ve contributed to the OTW.

If you’re curious about volunteering for the OTW, we recruit for various positions on a regular basis, and recruitment will next open in January.

From October 25 to November 22, Volunteers & Recruiting received 287 new requests, and completed 270, leaving them with 63 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). As of November 22, 2025, the OTW has 983 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.

New Fanlore Volunteers: Luana and 2 other Chair-Track Volunteers
New Policy & Abuse Volunteers: Anderson, Araxie, corr, Aspenfire, Klm, Mothmantic, Nova Deca, vanishinghorizons, and 1 other Volunteer
New Tag Wrangling Volunteers: 90Percent Human, Aeon, Alecander Seiler, ambystoma, Astrum, Atlas Oak, batoidea, Bette, Bottle, bowekatan, Bruno, Chaosxvi, Destiny, DogsAreTheBest312, Dream, elia faustus, Ellexamines, Elliott W, Gracey, jacksonwangparty, Jean W, Kalico, Keira Gong, Kiru, lamonnaie, Lavender, Loria, Lucia G, LWynn, Max, Nikki, Nioral, noctilucent, Our Hospitality, Primo, Rie, Salethia, Sapphira, sashene, Schnee, Scylle, sneakyowl, soymilk, Thaddeus, TheCrystalRing, thewritegrump, Water, Wintam, yucca, and 1 other Tag Wrangling Volunteer
New Translation Volunteers: 1 Translator
New TWC Volunteers: Lys Benson (Copyeditor)
New User Response Translation Volunteers: Cesium (Translator)

Departing AO3 Documentation Volunteers: 1 Editor
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: Irina, Paula, and 2 other Import Assistants; 1 Administrative Volunteer, and 1 Fan Culture Preservation Project Volunteer
Departing Policy & Abuse Volunteers: 1 Communications News Post Moderation Liaison
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Julia Santos (Tag Wrangling Supervisor); blackelement7, pan2fel, and 7 other Tag Wrangling Volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: weliuona and 2 other Translators
Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: Alisande and 2 other Volunteers

For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.

22degreehalo: (PWAA holy)
[personal profile] 22degreehalo posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu
Rating: Explicit
Length: 18,992
Creator Links: [archiveofourown.org profile] benwisehart
Theme: Amnesty, Book Fandoms, Domestic, Established Relationship, Humor, Trauma & Recovery

Summary: The System gives Shen Qingqiu the ability to exchange B-Points for items, and what better way to earn points than by raising the satisfaction level of Zhongdian's favourite protagonist?

OR: The one where Shen Qingqiu starts seducing the fuck out of Binghe in order to enable his caffeine addiction.

Reccer's Notes: This one seems like it'd be just a fun kinky romp (which it also is!), but it's also very thoughtful about why Shen Qingqiu was reluctant to indulge in some of these things to begin with. Sometimes it's just his self-conscious personality, and sometimes it's because he was too quick to judge, but he's also his own person with his own preferences and traumas and those deserve to be respected, too! Really, the ultimate benefit out of this whole sequence of events might just have been allowing these two a sliver of genuine open communication, even if that's sometimes a hard-won lesson.

Fanwork Links: The Scum Villain's Sex and Pleasure Catalogue
trobadora: (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan - wait)
[personal profile] trobadora posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purple sky with stars. Text reads, "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid_guardian.dreamwidth.org"


Hi, welcome to this week's instalment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!

Episode 7, from 24:30

Summary: The SID finds Lai Su's house and confronts him. He reveals that someone promised him fame and fortune if he published webnovels, and he kept at it despite knowing about the murders. Lin Jing is disappointed and furious at his idol. Lai Su writes a final chapter to end his webnovel career, and ends up dying his character's death. Zhu Jiu tries to break into the SID and discovers the black energy shield. And Zhao Yunlan visits Shen Wei to talk about the case. Shen Wei is very touched that he sympathises with a Dixingren.

Zhao Yunlan reacts to Lin Jing's anger


Quote:

Lin Jing: "If you can't take responsibility for every word you write, you don't deserve to be called an author. You don't even deserve to be called a person!"

Detail:

Lin Jing describes the final chapter of the webnovel with the monster's death as follows: "He was engulfed by guilt for his many crimes. In the end, his own reflection in a lake scared him to death."

Since we actually see the text of the chapter on screen, I thought it'd be fun to plug the screencaps into Google Translate - here's the result:

mobile version | desktop version

Questions:

Do you have a favourite line in in this half of the episode? What do you think about Lin Jing's angry words to Lai Su? How great is Lai Su's house? Any parallels between this case and the drama's overall plot? Any parallels with the novel you can think of? Why is Zhu Jiu only now discovering the SID's shield? What's your favourite part of the final scene between Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan?

(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)

And here is our schedule for the current batch of episodes - please do sign up to host a post if you can!
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Lord of the Rings; How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Sauron, the Mouth of Sauron, Pippin, Sam Gamgee, the Hobbit community
Rating: General Audiences
Length: (Fic) 957 words; (Comic) 30 panels
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply
Creator Tags:

Erisif | Valarhalla: #i could have done something useful today #instead i wrote this #i hate myself
english-history-trip: #lotr #nonsense #well that was my day how was yours #why is sauron in a cave and then a tower #go to hell that's why #why is frodo bartholomew cubbins instead of a who #the answer won't surprise you

Creator Links:
(Fic):
Elisif: (AO3) [archiveofourown.org profile] Elisif; (Tumblr) [tumblr.com profile] valarhalla
(Fancomic): english-history-trip: (Tumblr) [tumblr.com profile] english-history-trip

Theme: Amnesty, Crack, Crossovers/Fusions, Just Plain Fun, Non-Fic Recs: Fanart, Non-Fic Recs: Fancomic, Poetry, Tumblore

Summary: Every being in Eä liked peacetime a lot…
But Sauron, who was also in Eä, did NOT.


Reccer's Notes: Elisif’s retelling of The War of the Ring in Seussian rhyming verse, firmly informed by The Lore, maps the Shire onto Whoville without introducing an anachronistic Christmas (that’s for Narnia.)

And then, in proper cumulative Tumbloric fashion, english-history-trip proceeds to remix Seussian illustrations to match. (Spoiler: Sauron does not experience redemptive cardiac enlargement; another character gets to preside over the grand climactic celebration.)

Fanwork Links:

Fic: AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135110
Tumblr: https://valarhalla.tumblr.com/post/190955320437/every-being-in-eä-liked-peacetime-a-lot-but

Fancomic: https://english-history-trip.tumblr.com/post/636994579930939392/english-history-trip-english-history-trip-part
selenak: (Romans by Kathyh)
[personal profile] selenak
More than a decade ago, the tv show Spartacus was a guilty pleasure of mine. I started watching because BtVS and AtS alumnus Steven DeKnight was the showrunner (since then, he's also gathered additional geek cred with the first season of the Netflix Daredevil), and kept watching because as gory and pulpy and trashy as it was, it (after a bad pilot) turned into something compulsively watchable, with interesting characters galore, complicated relationships and good acting. You can read my review of the first season and the prequel season here, of the second season here, and of the third and final season here.

Now a spin-off of said show has just started (in my part of the world, you can watch it on Amazon Prime, but this seems to be different in different countries - like the original show, it gets shown on STARZ in the US) with the first two episodes released. I was alerted to this a few months ago when Steven DeKnight entertainingly shot down the whiny "Woke!" complaints by the usual suspects that started as soon as the first pics were released, showing, OMG, a black woman in a central role among the cast. (Given the original show had several prominent female characters, some of which were poc, and also had canon on screen important m/m relationships, and of course had at its central subject a slave revolt, it beats me why anoyne familiar with said original show should have assumed the show creators being inclined towards the Orance Menace type of entertainment and (lack of) ethos beats me, but there we are. Anyway, the premise of the show per se didn't feel like a must watch to me (more about this later), and I might have hesitated given all the Darth Real Life stuff dodging me, but all the indignation of ignorant fanatics definitely worked as great advertisement. What is the premise? Basically a canon AU, with the title of the spin-off: "Spartacus: House of Ashur" being a giveaway. I.e. it shows what would have happened if one of the original show's villains hadn't spoiler for the original show ) - what would have to Ashur, personally, that is, since everything else that happened in the third season of the original show still did happen in the canon AU which starts in what sounds like not even a year after the original show ended. While Ashur had been a good and entertaining villain, I hadn't exactly yearned for a "What if?" about him, yet, see above, external circumstances plus the fact the show really HAD been compulsive watching for me made me tune in and check out the first two episodes.

Gratitude! )
brokenframe: (Default)
[personal profile] brokenframe posting in [community profile] vidding
Title: Sirens
Characters/Pairing: Philip Swift/Syrena
Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Music: Sirens by Fleurie
Length: 3:08
Streaming/download at: DW | Tumblr

2026 Theme Suggestions

Dec. 5th, 2025 03:06 pm
runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
[personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] fancake

Hey all, it's December and that means it's time to share your suggestions for next year's themes!

You can comment on this post with up to 10 suggestions. Comments will be screened, but I'll unscreen mine so you can get a feel for how it goes.

Suggested themes should be new to the comm and broad enough to sustain a month of recommendations, and I'm going to be more particular than I have in the past, as I'd like to focus on general themes that make it easier for everyone to participate. To give you an idea of what this means, I'm aiming for themes that have at least 5,000 completed works on AO3. I've also preloaded the list with some common genres that, surprisingly enough, we haven't done yet, like fantasy.

I'll drop by your comments and let you know which of your suggestions meet these guidelines. As part of this process I may offer slight alterations or rework themes to make them more inclusive.

If you can, check out our spreadsheet of past themes before commenting to make sure your suggestions aren't already on there.

If you need some inspiration:

I'll add the suggestions to this post once they've been confirmed, but I still, somehow, don't have all the past themes memorized, so if I make a mistake or if I accept a suggestion that is hurtful or badly worded, let me know.

Theme suggestions will be voted on later this month and the most popular will advance to the monthly theme polls in 2026.

Confirmed Theme Suggestions )

If you have any questions or need help, come find me!

full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Chen Qing Ling;
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; the Cloud Recesses bunnies
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2:26
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, anvilicious rabbit symbolism, canon-typical blood, canon-typical phallic sword symbolism, corporal punishment, fluff (figurative and literal), innuendo, societal homophobia (in-story and real-world), sparring with subtext, Xiao Zhan’s A+ rabbit handling, (not you, Wang Yibo, you’re fine.)
Creator Tags: vid, Bunnies, Pining, i'm sorry lan wangji, no really a lot of pining
Creator Links: (AO3) [archiveofourown.org profile] soupytwist, (Dreamwidth) [personal profile] soupytwist, (Tumblr) [tumblr.com profile] soupytwist (locked); (YouTube) [youtube.com profile] twistedsoup

Theme: Amnesty, Angst With A Happy Ending, Animals, Humor, Non-Fic Recs: Fanvid, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Pining

Summary: If you look inside the heart of the mighty Hanguang-jun, you might find... bunnies.

Author’s Notes:Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: A rec in celebration of the 4 December 2025 Full Supermoon. Stephin Merritt’s wryly anguished anthem of gay pining gains not only an unironic tenderness but the hope of a happy resolution when juxtaposed with CQL’s literal rabbits (and their pervasive symbolism as tokens, symbols, and allegory of Wangxian’s relationship, as well as allusions to a Rabbit God who’d bless a gay union.)

Nor does soupytwist’s pitch-perfect syncing of visuals to lyrics hurt one bit.

Fanwork Links:
AO3 (locked): [FANVID] Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits; Part 2 of Gusu Love Songs.
Vimeo: Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
YouTube:Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits

Pluribus 1.06

Dec. 5th, 2025 06:11 pm
selenak: (Baltar by Nyuszi)
[personal profile] selenak
In which I had to google this week's celebrity cameo because his fame had eluded me in my corner of the world for now, but I was amused by the rest, and felt for Carol.

Spoilers have Zoom-calls twice a week )

International Volunteer Day

Dec. 5th, 2025 03:59 pm
[syndicated profile] otw_news_feed

Posted by Aditi Paul

On December 5, people all over the world observe International Volunteer Day (IVD) to acknowledge the work of volunteer workers everywhere, and their efforts, dedication, and passion. Since its conception in 1985, IVD has invited us to recognize the ways in which volunteers contribute to communities and are at the forefront of many people-led initiatives.

Here at the Organisation of Transformative Works (OTW) we depend entirely on that drive, as our organization is 100% volunteer-run! Our volunteers handle our strategic planning, administration, infrastructure, development, any day-to-day tasks required in running a non-profit organization, and so on. Volunteers aren’t just the backbone of the OTW, they are its whole skeleton!

Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of an OTW volunteer looks like? The answer is: It’s hard to say! Depending on where in the OTW they are active, their tasks and responsibilities can look very different from those of the next volunteer. Volunteers also work a very wide range of weekly hours, depending on their position(s) and availability: anything from one hour to over twenty hours a week!

For this IVD, we wanted to give you a chance to get to know those volunteers behind the scenes of the OTW and its projects. That is why we sent out a call across our social media for you to send us your most burning questions. Volunteers from different committees have picked and chosen some to answer, and for the rest of December we’ll be releasing a couple of question-answer pairs each week on socials!

We are exceedingly grateful to all volunteers who have taken time out of their day to compose answers, and for the amazing work they do at the OTW on a daily basis! They are the lifeblood of the OTW, AO3, and our other projects!

If you too want to become part of the OTW and help out as a volunteer, keep an eye on our recruitment posts! And if you’re afraid of missing a post, no worries: You can subscribe to our monthly OTW News by Email service for a neat summary of what’s currently happening at the OTW!


Purrcy; The Witch Roads

Dec. 4th, 2025 09:14 am
mecurtin: drawing of black and white cat on bookshelf (cat on books)
[personal profile] mecurtin
Whoozat? Purrcy and I were resting together, until all of a sudden he wondered what the human was doing in his bed. Besides being warm, of course.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stares over his shoulder at the camera, one ear flicked off to the side, as if slightly affronted. He's lying on the bed, partly visible over the mound of someone's legs covered by a red blanket.




The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott is the second part of a duology with The Witch Roads, about Elen, a Deputy Courier in the Imperial-China-esque Tranquil Empire who gets caught up in the machinations of princes and demons, when all she wants to do is keep her head down, walk her circuit carrying mail, talking to people, keeping an eye out for deadly Spore infestations and stopping them before they spread, and seeing her beloved nephew Kem on his way in life.

Sidebar: Elen is 34, and we had a to-me hilarious convo on Bluesky when Elliott (who is 2 years younger than I am) said she was taken aback by how many readers describe Elen as "middle-aged", because *she* doesn't think of 34 as middle-aged, "middle-aged" is just a euphemism for "old"!

I think this is hilarious because from my youth I figured 0-29 was young, 30-59=middle-aged, 60+=old, that's just MATH, people, stop kidding yourselves! But then we talked about it at dinner and it turns out Beth & Dirk have very vibes-based definitions of "middle-aged" as well. Frankly I'm disappointed.

Poll #33917 Our Middle Ages
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 52

How do YOU define "middle-aged"?

30-60
11 (21.2%)

35-65
13 (25.0%)

40-70
18 (34.6%)

other set of numbers
7 (13.5%)

vibes: raising a child and/or secure place to live (home ownership, v stable rental), or could/should be
1 (1.9%)

other vibes
1 (1.9%)

other other
1 (1.9%)



Back to the duology! One reason I love Elliott is that she often writes from the POV of non-elites who don't think elites (princes, emperors, billionaires, etc.) are that great, and she maintains it, she doesn't fall into the "except for this one" trap. This is *so* rare, even writers who are making a determined, conscious effort to avoid what Pratchett described as our "major design flaw, [the] tendency to bend at the knees" will still fall into it -- e.g. by having crucial non-elite characters we've identified with turn out to be close family members of the leading elite (royalty, rich people, etc.). Which the writers do to add family drama to the mix, but which also falls back into the old, OLD trap of "only the families of the elites count as Real People".

Because Elliott really cares about the little people, even when they're spending time with the high & mighty, her plots have less narrativium than usual & more "buffeted by the winds of fate" or "let's roll the dice, WHOOPS lost that saving throw" quality. The Witch Roads story isn't "how Elen saves the world/changes her society", it's "how Elen protects her child, comes to understand herself better, and gets to a [a better place in life, spoilers]."

But that also means that on some level it's disappointing, because I've been so conditioned to expect SFF to be about how someone at least *helps* to change the world. But in Elliott's little-people fantasy, the protags don't really do that, because they're in such hierarchical societies that a change at the top really boils down to "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

The only thing that really bugs me is a me-thing. As in Antonia Hodgson's The Raven Scholar, we have a fantasy society where people have some ability to choose their occupations--which completely overlooks the fact that in a premodern society almost everybody has to be a peasant farmer. (I'm now going down a research spiral; stay tuned.)

5x05 and 5x06

Dec. 4th, 2025 10:16 am
mekare: Smiling Michael with braids (ST Disco joyful)
[personal profile] mekare posting in [community profile] spacefungusparty
Turns out I didn‘t have much to say about episode 5 so I continued straight onwards to 6.

5x05 MirrorsRead more... )


5x06 WhistlespeakRead more... )

Me-and-media update

Dec. 3rd, 2025 03:32 pm
china_shop: Zhao Yunlan stretched out on a stool. (Guardian - ZYL sprawled on a stool)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the Subscriptions poll, 27.1% of respondents have cancelled a subscription for political reasons lately, and a further 6.2% are thinking about it. That is a large proportion! Also, 35.4% agreed with "grar at everything".

In ticky-boxes, hard copy media came second to hugs, 39.6% to 68.8%. Lemurs got 31.2%. Thank you for your votes!!

Reading
Still reading Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers (an engaging shaggy dog story, so far). Nothing really in audio.

Kdramas
A few episodes into Knight Flower and enjoying it very much. The male lead is whatever, but the female lead is 100% delightful.

We finished Typhoon Family. Unfortunately it felt like it got shaggier and more shambolic as it went along, so that was a little unsatisfying. The least good Junho drama of the four I've seen.

Pru and I are making our way through Family by Choice, ahhh I love this show!!

Other TV
It feels like we're watching a ton of currently airing things, but now we've finished Typhoon Family, it's really just Down Cemetery Road (excellent) and Pluribus, which is a metaphor for half a dozen different things (Covid, grief, AI, et al).

We also still have Prehistoric Planet on the go, and last night we watched the first two episodes of the new season of Stranger Things, though I ended up colouring in and just looking up from time to time. Not super in the mood for watching people in peril. (At some point we'll probably watch the whole show right through, so I can always catch up properly then.)

Audio entertainment
Letters from an American, Cross Party Lines, some 99% Invisible. And a bunch of episodes of Shell Game, in season 1 of which, the podcaster makes some AI agents with his voice and deploys them at various people (including at his partner and friends). I thought this might be interesting because, while I've listened to a bunch of stuff about how AI is personally, politically and existentially terrible for our selves, societies and planet, I hadn't heard much about the experience of using it. I expected Shell Game to document the fact that it's just kind of crap. But although an "AI agent" is just a voice simulator reading ChatGPT outputs full of made-up nonsense, the podcaster seems weirdly invested in seeing them as mini-mes. Ot1h, using it to engage with scammers and spammers? Sure, why not? Otoh, sending his AI agent to AI therapy?? And then real therapy with a human therapist?? Very strange choices. I kind of want to shake him and remind him that there is NOTHING IN THERE!! (Maybe he reaches that conclusion in the final episode? I'm not there yet.) In season 2, he creates a start-up that is staffed entirely by himself and a bunch of AI agents. I'm not sure this is for me.

Guardian/Fandom
Rambling about Guardian. )

Writing/making things
Working on my Yuletide fic. It's slow going, but I'm enjoying it. Need to think of something for the new [community profile] fan_flashworks round (prompt: Boss).

Link dump
ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills, According to a New MIT Study (Time Magazine, Jun 24, 2025) | New Zealand chant (Reddit). :D :D :D

Good things
The boy, the cat, the house. The public health system (what's left of it). Online and offline friends. All the media, everywhere, all at once. Fandom, Guardian, Yuletide, squee. Starting and finishing this post all in one day.

Poll #33911 Mind's eye
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 58


How vivid is your mind's eye?

View Answers

IMAX
13 (22.4%)

pretty vivid
12 (20.7%)

I can visualise if I work at it
15 (25.9%)

it's a bit patchy / vague
13 (22.4%)

no mind's eye (isn't that just a metaphor?)
8 (13.8%)

other
2 (3.4%)

ticky-box full of detective fiction
22 (37.9%)

ticky-box full of paper drifts all over my desk
18 (31.0%)

ticky-box of being able to easily name most of the characters from Winnie-the-Pooh
23 (39.7%)

ticky-box full of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves
33 (56.9%)

ticky-box full of hugs
39 (67.2%)

Profile

notevenyou: (Default)
notevenyou

December 2025

S M T W T F S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Dec. 14th, 2025 01:34 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios