wanderings

I woke up to that news that Saturday morning (over a week ago now) and all of these sad garment-rending type posts on my reading list and network. (This is my sad garment-rending type post.)

My Chemical Romance was my favourite active bandom band. They're an important part of bandom for me, and an important part of my fannish history. Bandom's not my first RPF fandom but it's my first serious RPF fandom; I'm a lot more attached to it and the people that it focuses on than I have been with previous RPF fandoms, which is something that I've been processing as I move through bandom.

sinesofinsanity and I do this thing occasionally where we hang out in a kitchen and cook and/or drink tea and talk fandom. We don't tend to share fandoms or read the same fic in fandoms we do share; we're pretty different fannishly. For the past however long I've been talking to her about bandom, which has translated into a lot of talking about MCR (They went LARPing in the desert with Grant Morrison for a couple music videos.* Gerard writes comic books.** One of their music videos is a fanvid; they found a couple of a fanperson's vids, liked her stuff, and paid her to make their music video.***) and about RPF. There's been a lot of processing of where the lines are for me and what being a fan of someone more for their media persona than their work means for me. My becoming a fan of MCR and working to process my relationship with RPF have been really intertwined things for me.

*Killjoys 'verse: Na Na Na, SING
**wiki: The Umbrella Academy
***vidder's lj entry: The Kids From Yesterday

MCR is important to me. I have a lot of feelings about MCR. MCR is "art is the weapon". MCR is "trying to change the world". MCR is "gonna find the way on my own". MCR is "be yourself and don't take anybody's fucking shit".

When I was in high school I was pretty far left on the political spectrum. I am pretty far left on the political spectrum, and there's this narrative about how leftists grow up and stop being leftists. There's this note somewhere that I wrote to Friend A that goes something like, I don't ever want to do that. I don't ever want to accept the status fucking quo. I don't ever want to accept this racist, misogynistic, homophobic bullshit. I don't ever want to stop caring about that shit. I don't ever want to stop fighting. I am terrified of that; I think that the day I stop fighting, stop caring, is the day that something incredibly important dies.

MCR's a fighting band; MCR is a band fighting that fight; they're not perfect, but they're fighting. That's a lot of what MCR has meant to me, and I'm sad that they broke up; I wanted them to grow old and write a children's album together. I didn't want the band to end, but it's okay that they did; things end. Life goes forward and there are new adventures.

(Thank you and best wishes, MCR.)

I have been basically writing around I find MCR inspirational. I liked their message; it's something that I need in my life and something that I occasionally turn around in my head like a favourite old book. It's still there, after they've broken up, and the fandom is still here, too.

The fandom, for those reading this who are unaware, is awesome. Those themes that make me love MCR are all wrapped up in the fandom - geekery and art and meaning and recovery and... it's glorious.

( Recs and love )

This is a post about cats. Cats make me happy. Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats. (This is generally my reaction to cat fic, or art, or- someone should make a vid. I am trying to get it out of my system before I get to the recs.) I have not done a set of cat recs in some time. So. Cats, cats, cats, cats, cats.

And I Say It's All Right by skoosiepants
Bandom/Disney RPF
Rating: PG; 2,500 words; Kevin/Mike
The day after his divorce is finalized, Kevin stretches out of a depressed stupor masquerading as sleep and realizes he has a tail.
I really love this, not least because if I could turn into a cat when I was having a bad time I totally would. The details of being a cat in here are right, the gestures and processes are accurate; it's good characterisation. I really like the journey that Kevin makes in here and his interactions with the outside world. There are some wonderful little off-hand bits and lines in this and it's just a really comfortable and satisfying read.

Cat!Panic by aredblush
Bandom
Rating: G; art; Brendon/Spencer
This is amazing. aredblush draws Brendon and Spencer as cats and they remain completely and utterly themselves. The faces and posturing and the clarity of and just how much is gotten across is seriously impressive. It's an amusing and adorable piece.

Felis Catus by fermine
Inception
Rating: PG-13; 6,088 words; Arthur/Eames; Warning: attempted rape by an OC
It wasn't too bad, being a cat, and except for the size he was rendered in, it wasn't that much of a problem.
When Arthur is accidentally turned into a cat by Yusuf he is entrusted into Eames' care. Arthur's pretty interesting in this fic just for how little the characterisation of him changes when he becomes a cat and how he struggles with some of the technical repercussions of that transformation. Eames is kind of gloriously oblivious to things in this and their interactions are a bit amusing for that.

Keep to Catch, Catch to Keep by akavertigo
American Idol RPF
Rating: PG; 4,400 words; Adam/Kris
When Allison has her first hunt Kris sulks throughout the whole night.
There aren't actually any cats in this fic; Kris and Adam are a fox and wolf, respectively. It's cleaned up commentfic and still bearing a few marks from that, but it is completely and utterly adorable. The prompt upon which this story is based was also written by akavertigo and is sweet and amusing back-story from Adam's POV. The main story is about Kris being a fox and finding a place for himself with a wolf pack. It's joyously fuzzy and chin-hands cute.

Schrodinger's Cat by VerboseWordsmith
Bandom
Rating: PG; 1, 908 words; Annie/Laena
"I can try? If you can power Curiosity down, I'll take a look at the schematics and we can open her up."
This is a Eureka AU and it's shiny and fun. There are these wonderful little side details that slot everyone into this world beautifully. There's geeky social dynamics and competitiveness and a kind of sideways romantic beginning. It's really cute and amusing and just generally this happy little thing and awesome peek at a universe full of a lot of potential.