Podfic Meta

Thank you to dreamersdare for creating and hosting this challenge :)

Series I love, from one to ten in no particular order:

1. Stargate Universe. The first episode I saw of this was episode #4 when they're desperately trying to find lime for the air scrubbers, and I loved that as a premise for an episode. It felt like much 'harder' (more realistic) sci-fi than any Stargate before it. The beating heart of the show, for me, was the Rush/Young relationship. OMG they had tension - what kind of tension is debatable, but they were locked in, wanting to murder each other and yet unable to run the ship without each other. I understood Rush very easily, but I didn't understand Young at all, and so--very like Rush--I soon became obsessed with trying to work him out. Hey presto, now he's one of my favourite characters ever. I actually liked the ending of this, with everyone in their stasis pods continuing to further possible adventures without us. If they were going to end it, I'm glad it got such a good and worthy final episode.

2. Star Wars. Three movies out of the original six movies obsessed me. Star Wars: A New Hope - I saw it when I was a teenager and it was newly out. I immediately went out and got my hair cut like Han Solo. This was before I discovered fandom, so my fic writing for this was limited to daydreams. Didn't like the next two as much. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, I became obsessed with Qui-Gon Jinn and wrote fanfic in which he was something of a Living Force saint - to the point that everyone else found him inexplicable and annoying. Didn't like the next two at all (no Qui-Gon.) Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I became obsessed with General Hux. He was a second generation villain, the child of a man who's speciality was brainwashing children, and he had essentially grown up in a cult. I found that interesting, back in the days when I still believed that Nazis were not a real world problem. Nowadays I would react differently. Didn't like the next two at all. (Make a freaking plan and tell a coherent story, guys! Sheesh.)

3. The Master and Commander books by Patrick O'Brian. This is what I went on to after Pirates of the Caribbean. OMG! Such ships! Such an amazing grasp on the history of the Age of Sail. And the social mores. The social observation of Jane Austen with a more accessible humour. Watching Patrick O'Brian play with language is just joyous! "Jack, you have debauched my sloth!" I chuckle through the whole thing, totally immersed and loving every person in it, because PoB has such compassion for all his characters and it's a wonderful thing.

4. The Discworld - need I say more? Everyone loves the Discworld books which have a similar combination of humour with sharply observed world building and deeper themes. I have a soft spot for The Light Fantastic, if only because everyone recommends to everyone else that new readers should skip it. I think that if you miss out on Rincewind, Twoflower and the Luggage, your life will be a little bit darker.

5. The Cadfael books by Ellis Peters. I like a good murder mystery and these are good murder mysteries set in the 12th Century, where the detective is a monk whose main job is to be the herbalist in the Abbey of Shrewsbury. Cadfael soon acquires a foil in the shape of the Sherrif, Hugh Berengar, a sly and cunning young man, and the two investigate all sorts of suspicious happenings with great compassion and humanity. The TV series is nowhere near as good, although okay to watch. Somehow they managed to strip all the charm out of it.

6. The Marcus Didius Falco books by Lindsey Davis. Another great series of murder mystery novels, this time set in 70ad, with a sleuth who starts as a bit of a hard boiled noir detective in Rome, but who meets the love of his life and softens out to become much more of a real person. Another series with fascinating history, good mysteries and surprisingly likeable people.

7. The Untamed. This is the rare TV series that I liked more than the book. My first (and still one of the only) Chinese fantasy series. I was blown away by the fact that the storytelling conventions we're used to in Western media are not the same for this, so it was deeply refreshing not to know how it was going to go. There was something I couldn't look away from about all these beautiful, beautifully dressed people yelling at each other in pavilions. Although it took me three watches to figure out who was who, I was entertained the whole time. By then I was hooked enough to become a Jin GuangYao apologist, and that spun me out into writing fanfic. I did try reading the book, but I didn't like the official translation, and my blorbo was barely in it for the first 3 volumes and I was not engaged enough with everything else to carry on reading.

8. Ted Lasso. OMG, I did not expect to get hooked on a series about football. I hate football, and sports in general. But the comedy and the great big heart of this one sucked me in instantly. I seem to have no defense against the combination of humour and compassion, and I honestly don't want to develop any.

9. The Expanse. Another rarity - the book series and the TV series are both excellent. Or rather, the TV series is excellent throughout - hard sci-fi, very believable world building, exciting things happening, imperfect characters you learn to love. The book series however becomes excellent starting at book two. Book One reads like the first book, where the author is still working things out, and Horden is a bit of a mary sue in it. He becomes a much more likable character later, when the author isn't trying so desperately to make you love him. It's well worth suffering (a little bit) through the first book to get to the later ones though.

10. Do I put Murderbot again (because the whole series is great?) Or do I put Babylon 5. Babylon 5, I think, because we cannot one of the best sci-fi series ever. I think I've put my finger on my own taste now, because it was also funny and loving, while still being exciting and full of drama. And Susan Ivanova remains one of the few female characters who hit the same exalted level for me as my male blorbos. She was allowed to be badass, and that meant a lot to me.

I followed a link over to dreamersdare who has created a February 'Stuff I love' challenge to remind us--in this darkest part of the year--that there are still things to enjoy.

And how does this challenge work?

Each week in February, you are challenged to write a themed top ten list, with a focus on different aspects of media.

Week 1 (February 1st-7th): Standalone media (e.g. films, novels, short stories, plays) Week 2 (February 8th-14th): Series (e.g. TV shows, webtoons, comics, web serials) Week 3 (February 15th-21st): Music picks (e.g. bands, artists, songs, music videos) Week 4 (February 22nd-28th): Relationships in our media (e.g. platonic, shippy, familial, canon, fannish)

As it's the 5th of February today, I have a list of standalone media, not listed in order of importance because largely they are all equal in my estimation:

1. Bladerunner (the original and best.) So atmospheric and dreamy. Went into it expecting to love Harrison Ford's character (because Han Solo was the best,) came out of it with a new blorbo in the shape of Roy Batty, and a new background for the next five years of my life in the shape of that Vangelis music.

2. Oh blimey, speaking of plays, there was one play that became a hyperfixation for me before I knew the term hyperfixation, and that was an adaptation of Riddley Walker which was on at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester when I was a student there. I absolutely adored the made-up futuristic dialog of the play--which is set in a post-apocalyptic England that has reverted to savagery. Just gorgeous language - I mean choppy, brutalist, but so new and vital. I would love to see it again some time.

3. Speaking of old, pre-fandom blorbos, I loved Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence largely because in those days (1980s and before) it was vanishingly rare to get any queer content, and MCML was about the obsessive/destructive attraction between a captive in a Japanese POW camp (played by David Bowie) and his captor (played by Riuichi Sakamoto.) There was lots of yearning! But there was also an amazing soundtrack by Riuichi Sakamoto's band the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and that was another big part of the soundscape of my youth.

4. Murderbot--All Systems Red. Enough said. Actually no, I do have something to say. I didn't know there was a word for what I was (asexual/agender/aromantic) until I was in my mid 40s. I had never seen or even conceived of anyone like myself, and I fixated hard on robots and also on other queer people. I recognized my community without knowing why I belonged there. Murderbot combines my love of robots with a character who actually gets what it's like to prefer to be what you are. It is the ace representation I didn't know I needed.

5. Stargate (the movie.) Ancient Egyptians in space? What more do you need. I have a strong love for things that are alien to my own experience, so obviously I was primed to love the villains in this, and that was only cemented by the fact that Ra was so beautiful, Anubis was so handsome, and they had that (Hollywood thinks it's villainous) homoerotic tension between them. Chef's kiss.

6. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. I'm sure I've talked about this one before. Gorgeous language. Representation of a whole planet where the people are asexual like 90% of the time. Obviously the narrator thinks this is weird, but Genly Ai is a moron, and Therem Harth Rem ir Estraven was a childhood blorbo who I still hug to my heart today.

7. Pirates of the Caribbean (the first movie only.) The movie that launched a thousand fics, and accidentally also launched my professional writing career. I deeply loved Commodore Norrington and as a result I began to research the Age of Sail in 18th Century England. And as a result of that I wrote my first book and got it published. The later movies spoiled this franchise for me but I owe it so much.

8. Lord of the Rings (the book.) Shaped my life. Taught me my morality. Formed my writerly voice and taught me how to describe things. I can't over-emphasise how much this is a load bearing pillar of my personality.

9. The Time Bandits. Another one from my youth. Some of God's dwarven helpers steal the map to all the holes in creation and use them to travel in time stealing valuable things. By accident they also drag a young boy from his bedroom and drag him through time and mythology in a series of whacky adventures. Apart from the truly amazing best giant ever, the thing that stuck with me with this one was the depiction of ancient Greece, which turned it back into a proper ancient culture to me, as opposed to the usual Hollywood depictions.

10. Forerunner Foray by Andre Norton I mentioned my enchantment with things that are alien to me, and this is so alien. It was formative in shaping what I hope for from science fiction, even though what it actually deals with is being possessed by ancient things and cultures. I just love the weird things.

So, every time I sign up to do a solo, there's a place on the form for my dancer's pseudonym, and every time it makes me think 'should I have a dance name?' and 'if I should, what should it be?

I don't feel happy about just awarding myself an Arabic name, so these are the three choices I've managed to come up with:

• Ursula Ogg - after Ursula the octopus villain, and Nanny Ogg the witch. I'll be honest, the main driver for choosing either of these names is that I'm fat. Nanny Ogg is my favorite Discworld witch, but I feel no connection to the idea of witchery in general, and if I was to choose a favorite villain, Ursula wouldn't be on that list at all. So basically I just chose this because they were two cool people who were also fat.

• AElfgifu - means 'Elf-gift' and is my favourite Anglo-Saxon name. I am Anglo-Saxon myself so this would be a safe cultural bet.

• Athalia - means 'God is exalted' and is a Biblical name. I would like for my name to exalt God, and there's a long tradition among Christians to grab names out of the Bible, so if it's cultural appropriation, it's a long standing one.

Now I've put them all down I think Ursula is off the table and I just need some help choosing between AElfgifu and Athalia.

I feel more of a personal connection to AElfgifu through my years of Anglo-Saxon re-enactment, but I might need to give pronunciation tips with it, which would be a faff. (It's pronounced 'Alfg-aye-vuh')

On the other hand Athalia would be a new start, it doesn't require an Old English primer to pronounce, and of all the names it's the only one that made my heart leap a little.

What do you think? Athalia? Something else entirely?

(There's a lady I follow on Tumblr who is of a similar build to me and her dance name is Ursa Major, which I think is fantastic.)