reflections, reviews, and recommendations

( Dear Yuletide Writer )

( 미스터리 수사단 | Agents of Mystery (TV) )

( 여고추리반 | Girls’ High School Mystery Class (TV) )

( The Devil's Plan (TV) )

( 솔로지옥 | Single's Inferno (TV) )

( 이상한 변호사 우영우 | Extraordinary Attorney Woo (TV) )

( 你微笑时很美 | Falling Into Your Smile (TV) )

( 庆余年 | Joy of Life (TV) )

( 盗墓笔记2之怒海潜沙&秦岭神树 | The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note (TV 2019) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Yuletide Writer )

( 미스터리 수사단 | Agents of Mystery (TV) )

( 여고추리반 | Girls’ High School Mystery Class (TV) )

( 이상한 변호사 우영우 | Extraordinary Attorney Woo (TV) )

( 你微笑时很美 | Falling Into Your Smile (TV) )

( 庆余年 | Joy of Life (TV) )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Confectioner )

( Peak Time (Korea TV 2023) )

( 薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries (Anime) )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

( ナナマル サンバツ | Nana Maru San Batsu | Fastest Finger First (Anime)  )

( 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán )

( 穿越火线 | Cross Fire (TV) )

( 你微笑时很美 | Falling Into Your Smile (TV) )

( 有翡 | Legend of Fei (TV) )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( 沙海 | Tomb of the Sea (TV) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Yuletide Writer )

( Peak Time (Korea TV 2023) )

( 你微笑时很美 | Falling Into Your Smile (TV) )

( 沙海 | Tomb of the Sea (TV) )

( 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV) )

( 有翡 | Legend of Fei (TV) )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Fellow Rare Pair Aficionado )

( Peak Time (Korea TV 2023) )

( 킹덤: 레전더리 워 | Kingdom: Legendary War (TV) )

( 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán )

( 全职高手 | The King's Avatar (Live Action TV) )

( 沙海 | Tomb of the Sea (TV) )

( 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV) )

( 有翡 | Legend of Fei (TV) )

( 穿越火线 | Cross Fire (TV) )

( Scholomance - Naomi Novik )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

I have been thinking for a while now about trying something like this, but it's so easy to think, "oh, maybe tomorrow" and then never actually get around to it. But inspired by dreamersdare (who made the banner!), I think I'm going to try posting some things this month (hopefully without overthinking them too much) -- probably not every day, but at this point, even making this one post is better than how it's been going lately, so.

I've been working on my rarepairexchange signup, and one of the fandoms I plan to request is the Korean idol group survival show Peak Time (available on Viki). It's all somewhat-struggling idol groups at different points in their careers; the show takes place over several months and at various points the groups are given access to resources that they might have otherwise had a tough time affording -- lessons, training, vocal direction, well-known choreographers and producers, stage production design, new songs, etc -- and while it has plenty of flaws, it was very satisfying watching how some of the groups really grew over the course of the competition, and overall I enjoyed it a lot. For one of the challenges, they had them divide up into four Units, four idol groups per Unit, and then within the Unit had the members mix up into a Vocal team, a Dance team, and a Rap team. Interaction between competitors tends to be one of my favorite parts of these sorts of shows, so unsurprisingly I really enjoyed this part. And some of the performances turned out incredibly well! There were several good ones, but these were the Vocal, Dance, and Rap performances that edged out the others in judges' scoring, and I would agree that they were the best of the bunch, and worth watching just as performances, even outside the context of the show as a whole.

This Vocal performance of IU's "My Sea" by five singers from four different groups is just unbelievably gorgeous, the harmonies build beautifully:


This Dance performance to "Bad" by Christopher is sharp, clean, powerful, and sexy as hell:


(I prefer the above version for a good view of the performance as a whole, but this alternate version is also worth watching (despite the occasionally dizzying camera work and confusing cuts) for its closer shots of some of their expressions at key moments.)

And this Rap performance of "Dang Dang Dang" by Supreme Team (with some lyrics written by the team themselves) is dynamic, energetic, aggressive, full of personality, and frankly adorable (at least, if you like delinquents, which I do). I wish this clip had a translation of the lyrics, but the overall gist is "let's all ditch school and meet around back for a rap battle," and they commit to it completely and I love them:


I feel like it's even more effective if you watch the lead-up to it and the translated lyrics -- start at timestamp 1:13:36 in Episode 5 for the lead-up, or if you just want the performance with the translated lyrics, start at 1:19:34. Or if you want to stick to YouTube, this version with a fan translation of the lyrics is another good option.

( Dear Worldbuilder )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV) )

( 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán )

( Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch )

( Magids Series - Diana Wynne Jones )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Confectioner )

( 这！就是街舞 | Street Dance of China (TV) )

( 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán )

( 全职高手 | The King's Avatar (Live Action TV) )

( 沙海 | Tomb of the Sea (TV) )

( 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV) )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( 有翡 | Legend of Fei (TV) )

( ナナマル サンバツ | Nana Maru San Batsu | Fastest Finger First (Anime) )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

( Scholomance - Naomi Novik )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

It's suddenly Halloween, what the hell, I swear it was just August yesterday. It snuck up on me, but I realized in time that it is apparently almost November, which means it's time for mini_wrimo! Sign-ups are open until September 10th, come join us! It's super low pressure and has helped me get so much writing done over the years.

I have two opt-in filters, one for mini-nano and one for yuletide, I'm not sure how active they will be this year, but there's a good chance I will use them both. Please let me know (comment here, message me, or email me at this username at gmail) if you'd like to be added to either or both! (Or, for that matter, if you were on them previously and would like to be removed, that's fine too!)

( Dear Yuletide Writer )

( 全职高手 | The King's Avatar (Live Action TV) )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime) )

( ナナマル サンバツ | Nana Maru San Batsu | Fastest Finger First (Anime) )

( Scholomance - Naomi Novik )

( Oddinary Trailer - Stray Kids (EP Promo Video) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Crosscrafter )

The format of this exchange is a bit different from most of the ones I've done before, so I wasn't entirely certain how best to organize this letter. I think what I'm going to do is list the requests as-is from my signup, and then afterwards ramble a bit about what I like about each of the fandoms that appear in the requests, probably with a bit of Yuletide-style intro for most of them.

( Requests )

( Fandoms: 这！就是街舞 | Street Dance of China (TV), 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán, Untitled Goose Game (Video Game), 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV), 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV), 侠探简不知 | Ancient Detective (TV), Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch, Scholomance - Naomi Novik, The Sandman (Comics), Leverage, Persona 5, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Haikyuu!!, はたらく細胞 | Hataraku Saibou | Cells at Work! (Anime) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

Two firsts have happened to me this year, both in the realm of podfic. First, a couple friends of mine secretly recorded a podfic for one of my old Yuletide fics as a surprise gift for me, which was super sweet of them, and it turned out so cute. Their voices for the characters are so great! It really brought the fic to life. I'm especially floored because it was basically a cold read, or nearly so, and it turned out so well!

[Multivoice Podfic] Five Scenes from the Life of a Father (22 words) by ItchyWitchie, Perpetua47
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Heard on the Subway: Talking About Your Gay Son (Blog Post)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Charlie & Pat (Talking About Your Gay Son), implied John/Patrick Jr. (Talking About Your Gay Son), Charlie/Mary Ann (Talking About Your Gay Son)
Characters: Charlie (Talking About Your Gay Son), Pat (Talking About Your Gay Son), John (Talking About Your Gay Son), Patrick Jr. (Talking About Your Gay Son), Mary Ann (Talking About Your Gay Son)
Additional Tags: Family, Male Friendship, Father-Son Dynamics, LGBTQ Themes, LGBTQ Characters, Supportive Parenting, mentions of college, mentions of baseball, Yuletide, Yuletide 2013, Podfic, multivoice podfic, Cold Read, sorta - Freeform, more like lukewarm read
Series: Part 2 of Cold Read Podfics
Summary:

Charlie doesn't always completely understand, but he tries.

Those same friends later roped me into recording a podfic with them, and it was so much fun! Listening to myself feels really strange and it's hard to let go of all the imperfections in my delivery I can hear (I was the narrator), but hey, it's my first time trying out podficcing, and the two of them did such an excellent job with the delightfully flirtatious banter, everyone should go listen to it anyway! The fic itself is quite short, but highly entertaining. Recording a podfic was really fun, and I hope to do more in the future!

[Multivoice Podfic] Light-Fingered (52 words) by athenejen, ItchyWitchie, Perpetua47
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mèng Yáo | Jīn Guāngyáo/Xuē Yáng | Xuē Chéngměi
Characters: Mèng Yáo | Jīn Guāngyáo, Xuē Yáng | Xuē Chéngměi
Additional Tags: Prompt Fic, Alternate Universe - Regency, Don't ask how that works, just enjoy the flirting, Podfic, multivoice podfic
Summary:

"Good evening," Jin Guangyao said, stepping smoothly between the predator and Qin Su. "Won't you forgive me my manners - it seems we've not yet been introduced, though the dancing is already begun."
The way the man's eyes swept him up and down did nothing to allay Jin Guangyao's fears - that his lechery knew no limits was no consolation at all - and indeed the barely-concealed interest in his gaze was... troubling.

-

Prompt fill for JGY/XY and a Jane Austen AU.

( Dear Worldbuilder )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( Magids Series - Diana Wynne Jones )

( Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch )

( Scholomance - Naomi Novik )

( 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

( Dear Chocolatier )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

( ナナマル サンバツ | Nana Maru San Batsu | Fastest Finger First (Anime) )

( ヲタクに恋は難しい | Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (Anime) )

( Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch )

( Scholomance - Naomi Novik )

( 全职高手 - 蝴蝶蓝 | Quánzhí Gāoshǒu - Húdié Lán )

( 穿越火线 | Cross Fire (TV) )

( 有翡 | Legend of Fei (TV) )

( 琅琊榜 | Nirvana in Fire (TV) )

( 경이로운 소문 | The Uncanny Counter (TV) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

For the Carpe Diem challenge that kat_lair is hosting this week.

The "Squee" prompt for Sunday: Tell us about your favourite surprise or plot twist. This could be either in media canon or fan work, or indeed real life when things (or people) turned out different (better!) than you expected.

Louis Cha, who wrote under the pen name Jin Yong in Hong Kong from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, is one of the most respected and popular wuxia authors of all time, and of his works, the Condor Trilogy that begins with Legend(s) of the Condor Heroes is perhaps his most famous and beloved, with each of the three parts focused on a different generation of related characters. In 2018, a UK publishing company started releasing the first professionally published English translation of the trilogy, and last year it was picked up by a US publishing company as well. Their plan is to release all three parts of the trilogy, with each part consisting of four English-language volumes each, for a total of twelve. The concluding fourth volume of the first part just came out earlier this month.

So far, I have read two of those four volumes and thoroughly enjoyed them. I have some issues with some of the translation choices they made regarding some of the names, but it's not enough to put me off the overall translation, and I thought the second volume (with a different translator, but they managed to avoid it being jarring) was a bit smoother than the first one, which hopefully bodes well for subsequent volumes of the series.

Before I started reading, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had mostly been hoping for some useful cultural context for some of the dramas I've been watching, and it has certainly delivered on that front. But it's been much more than that as well. When I mentioned to my mom I was reading these, she told me that it's actually her favorite novel of all time -- she re-reads it every handful of years and loves it so much she's never been able to make it through any of the many movie or tv series adaptations of it people have tried to make over the years, because none of them can live up to the books for her.

They were originally published as a running newspaper serial, and while the publisher has broken the first part of the trilogy up into four volumes, it was very clearly not originally intended to have those separations, so there there isn't really an arc within each volume. It's pretty much a series of scenes strung together -- there are some ups and down and building action and quiet lulls, but it doesn't really follow what I would think of as modern novel structure, and it uses a sort of roving 3rd-person POV that is also quite atypical for what is currently being published. It has a huge cast and takes a while for the story to really get going in a clear-to-the-reader direction. It wouldn't surprise me if some people bounce off of it, especially if they don't have already and/or aren't interested in finding out more about the cultural context.

But if you are the kind of person who likes a good plot twist, I can promise you: there are good ones here. The kind of sudden realizations and reveals that made me laugh out loud, the kind that both change everything about what you were thinking was happening and yet make so much sense. The kind that make me caution you: do not read any plot summaries of this book. Go into it as unspoiled as possible, because the twists are of the most purely delightful type. I can imagine a whole generation of people following this story in the paper, all of Hong Kong gasping at once as they read this or that reveal.

There's one of the plot twists in particular... I don't know that I can call it my favorite plot twist of all time (I'm bad at favorites). But it's definitely one of the most memorable I've encountered in a long time. And it was so much fun to experience in situ, I can't bring myself to explain it here. Just read the book, and discover it for yourself. And then come back and yell about it with me. :)

For the Carpe Diem challenge that kat_lair is hosting this week.

The "Squee" prompt for Saturday: Tell us about something you’ve done so well. We know many people find these kinds of tasks extra challenging but we encourage you to show us your bestest fics, your shiniest arts, your thinkiest metas, your intricatest crafts etc. Tell us about That Time You Owned The Room. Or the conversation. Or when you cooked a meal that everyone loved, when you supported a friend through a difficult decision, figured out a solution to a problem... We already know you're awesome, but we'd like to see the proof anyway, just to nod sagely and say 'see, I told you so'.

Late last year, I realized that I hadn't posted any new fic since June 2015. Five whole years had gone by somehow, without me really being aware of it. I have been working on the same New Year's Resolution fic since early 2017; it's over 20k now and I am hoping to finish it this year in time to sign up for Yuletide, but I never intended for that to be the only thing I wrote in that time. But I had gotten out of the habit of writing regularly; I worked on that NYR fic during mini-nanowrimo and for the most part that was it. I had fallen out of hockey fandom and gotten really into anime and manga, but didn't feel especially confident writing in those fandoms and much of the fandoms for those are on tumblr, so I found it a bit difficult to fully connect.

But I had started expanding into watching Chinese dramas and donghuas (and the occasional k-drama as well), which felt a little more accessible to me both culturally (I'm Chinese-American) and fandom-wise, and I was starting to feel a bit of that itch again to be more involved and productive. And then a prompt came across the Yuletide pinch list that was like a bolt of lightning. It was exactly the kind of thing I like to write, about a character I suddenly desperately wanted to write about. I told myself if it was still there when I woke up in the morning, I would claim it. (It felt irresponsible to claim it right away. After having not posted anything for over five years and having defaulted on my last attempt at Yuletide way back in 2014, I felt like other people might be better bets than me, and if someone else jumped on it, then good. But the fandoms were obscure enough that it might still be there in the morning, in which case... I was, at the very least, better than no one, right?) In the morning, it was still there. I claimed it. And in the next 3 or so months I wrote and posted three different fics -- two for that Yuletide pinch hit and one for Chocolate Box -- and while I make no claim on their objective quality, I worked really hard on them and was happy with how all three turned out, and most importantly, their recipients seemed to like them, too. And... I was proud of myself for getting back into it. It was harder than I realized it would be to find the confidence in myself to take that pinch hit and then sign up for Chocolate Box. But I did it. ( Here are those fics )

For the Carpe Diem challenge that kat_lair is hosting this week.

The "Squee" prompt for Tuesday: Tell us about a movement that takes your breath away, or even better, share a video of it. A dance performance, nature video, athletic feat... The kind of thing you never tire watching.

This is the first thing that came to mind. I don't know that I'd call it "breathtaking," exactly, but it has permanent lodging in my brain and every once in a while I find myself mesmerized and watching it again and again and again.

Kuroo Tetsurou is a character from the (totally brilliant and delightful) volleyball anime Haikyu!! Kuroo is clever and sly and likes to provoke people, and is also smart as hell and kind and helpful and a huge nerd. He's the captain of the Nekoma High team; they are all cats at heart and I love them.

Bongyoung Park is a South Korean dancer and choreographer that I don't actually know all that much about otherwise... but a Haikyu!! fan apparently saw him and thought: oh hey, he kind of reminds me of Kuroo (or vice versa). And made this:


Why, yes. He is wearing heels.

The original choreography is also well worth watching -- first Bongyoung Park (did I mention the heels?), then a few sets of students.

And, just for the fun of it, someone made a video where you can watch them both at once.

( Dear Chocolatier )

( 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) )

( Crossover Fandom - Lan Wangji (The Untamed) & Sam Vimes (Discworld) )

( Tales of Vesperia )

( Tales of Berseria )

( Magids Series - Diana Wynne Jones )

( 全职高手 | The King's Avatar (Cartoon) )

( ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga) )

( 銀の匙 | Silver Spoon )

( ヲタクに恋は難しい | Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (Anime) )

( ナナマル サンバツ | Nana Maru San Batsu | Fastest Finger First (Anime) )

The bottom line is: I like a huge variety of stuff (and am all in favor of experiments, creativity, and unusual things), I'm harder than usual to squick, and I'm willing to try almost anything. Please just enjoy the writing, and I know I'll have fun reading it. :)

much love,
athenejen

And that means it's mini_wrimo time! Sign-ups are open until November 10th (though the challenge starts on the 1st as usual). I still have to finish up the project I've been working on for the last few years (17k words and counting, agh) and I semi-spontaneously took on another project as well, so I am extra grateful it's running again this year, as I have plenty to work on. Come write with us if you like -- it's super low-pressure, and I've always found it helpful and fun.

While trying to avoid thinking too much about the outside world (though I will say that the early voting place we went to seemed to be well set-up and smoothly run), I have been enjoying, among other things: the Chinese drama Joy of Life (imperial conspiracies upon conspiracies upon conspiracies, full of charmingly dramatic and often lighthearted shenanigans, with a bit of potentially timey-wimey mystery thrown in), the new seasons of Haikyu!! (possibly the best pure sports anime ever; the manga is also brilliant) and The King's Avatar donghua/cartoon (about a pro gamer who has to start over, finds a job at an internet cafe, and eventually builds his own team -- the live action drama is also a really fun and endearing watch, but it's definitely aimed at more of a general audience, while the donghua is probably more accurate and appealing to gamers), Fire Emblem: Three Houses (the Golden Deer House route has been thoroughly delightful), Final Fantasy XIV (finally took the plunge to try my first MMO ever), the League of Legends World Championships, the Pathfinder: Mummy's Mask card game, Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children novellas, The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, a re-read of the manga Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, and lots of fic, mostly from around the edges of The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) and The King's Avatar/Quan Zhi Gao Shou (QZGS). I have been pleased that my Chinese language skills have rebounded a bit after watching all these Chinese dramas. I'll probably never be fluent (much to my parents' disappointment), and there has been a lot of deterioration since I quit grad school, but it's nice to get some of it back, anyway.

ETA: I have two opt-in filters, one for mini-nano (which is mostly snippets) and one for yuletide (which is mostly brainstorming and rambling and angsting). If you would like to be on either or both, please let me know (comment here, message me, or email me at this username at gmail). They haven't really been used since I switched over to mostly-DW from mostly-LJ, so even if you know you were on the LJ filter, please opt-in again.

In mid-July, I finally watched the rest of The Untamed, all in one fell swoop over the course of about a week and a half. (I'd started it several months back and gotten about 5 episodes in before pausing out of sheer apprehension -- the characters were so endearing, and the impending trainwreck so obviously intensely tragic, it took me a while to convince myself to be ready to dive into it wholesale.)

It has been a long time since I became obsessed with a fandom to this level and extent, where even after a month and a half of thinking about it near-constantly and reading a lot, it feels like I've barely scratched the surface.

During this time, these are the three songs that have been on repeat in my head as I've gone about my days. The Untamed is much more than this, much more than any three songs could express, but still. These are the three songs my brain keeps coming back to.

I think the song names themselves aren't all that spoilery, but I'll put the lyrics and commentary under cuts, though even there I'll try to avoid any detailed or specific spoilers (mostly the songs touch upon the emotional arc of the central relationship, but only in very general terms), so it should be relatively safe to read even if you haven't yet seen the series but plan to. Links go to official artist YouTube releases -- if nothing else, the songs are wonderful (especially if you like moody singer-songwriters).

( Bird on the Wire, by Leonard Cohen )

( Shotgun Wedding, by Joshua Morrison )

( A Heart Needs a Home, by Richard Thompson )

I have had so many posts on so many different topics rattling around in my head... I always hope I'll post more, but I never have any idea if it'll actually happen. But I'll keep hoping, anyway.