Beyond Selidor

I've been reading my way through this year's Rarewomen fics, and there are some really fantastic ones in the mix, so good that I thought I'd share them.

'Of Magdala' by amoama. Jesus Christ Superstar, Christian Bible. A really bittersweet exploration of Mary Magdalene, her history and motivations.

'When A Lovely Flame Dies' by HannaM. The Pretty Little Liars/Twin Peaks crossover I've been waiting for. It taps into the deep sense of strangeness, claustrophobia and menace that pervades all small towns haunted by the ghosts of murdered and vanished teenage girls.

'Rabbit' by sanguinity. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Five Jesses who have seen Judgement Day, and one who hasn't. This one was so twisting and painful to read, and really captured the bleak, inevitable weight of time and expectation that pervades the canon, and the author did a really good job capturing the Australianness of Jesse, which I found pleasing.

Also, a couple of vid recs:

'Die Young' by kaydeefalls. Characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer in their high school years. Set to Ke$ha music. It's perfect.



'Strange Angels' by sanguinity. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I was recced this by ladybusiness, and I'll take their description: Shaping yourself into someone who can protect people is often a thankless task in fictional lands. That sums up the vid very well, I think.


For the history lovers out there, I've also got a couple of fascinating videos. The first is archival footage of my Cambridge college (and the wider university) during the 1940s.



The second is something I encountered just today, and is truly amazing. It's a virtual map that traces the growth of London from Roman times to today, and is the best thing I've seen on the internet for a long time. I'm getting a very Troy Game vibe from it!



Finally, I've noticed some people have been complaining about the latest changes to Livejournal. As far as I can tell, I've managed to avoid them because I never chose to have the 'new' friends page (if I wanted have to endure endless scrolling, I'll go to Tumblr), and I'm only seeing differences on the login page, and if I comment on other people's posts. However, I think there's a possible way to avoid them if you go to Display section of the Settings page, and select 'View all journals and communities in my own style' and 'View comment pages from my Friends page in my own style'. That may make things slightly better. The only other thing I can advise is to keep your friends page in the 'old style' as long as possible. I'm not going to change until it's forced on me.