I am running behind on approximately seventeen quadrillion projects, which is why I haven't posted any book reviews for several weeks and probably will continue to not post any until next week, at least.

But! I didn't want to leave my dreamwidth entirely barren, especially immediately after participating in a friending meme (still running here, if you want to bulk up your reading page) and anyway, it's the year-end/new-year time of things, a good moment for summing up and posting lists. And so here is a topic about which I hardly ever post, but which I spend quite a bit of time with in my daily life: podcasts! I'm extremely fond of using podcasts to fill all the boring bits of life, particularly the bits when my hands and/or eyes are otherwise occupied (so that I can't read a book) but my brain is not: commuting, of course, but also washing dishes, folding laundry, showering, cooking, and more. I usually go through two or three episodes of various podcasts a day. And so, of course, I have favorites – podcasts that I desperately wait for new episodes of. And... less favorites, ones I listen to only when I have nothing else ("I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats", why is the host so annoying?) or that I try to listen to and end up abandoning ("History is Gay", why are both hosts so annoying?). But let's stick to the positives for today. Here are my Top Ten Favorite Podcasts of 2019, listed in ascending order:

10. Ben Franklin's World. A young historian (I believe she's a PhD student, at least in the early episodes I've listened to so far) interviews scholars, museum workers, and professors on their research in early American history (generally mid 1600s to early 1800s, with a few episodes that go earlier or later, and with a focus on the area of the British colonies). To be honest, I don't actually like the host's approach very much, but the people she talks to are so interesting that I've kept listening anyway. This is also one of the few podcasts I listen to that doesn't have any element of humor to it at all (I tend to look for a light mood in my podcasts), but it's fascinating, and I always want to take notes while I listen.

9. The Allusionist. The host, a woman with a background in writing and editing, produces this show with a somewhat "This American Life" vibe, but on the topic of weird linguistic detours. She herself describes the show as "about language", but that seems way too broad to be helpful. Some recent episode topics to give you a better idea of whether you'd like to listen yourself: how do you decide what to engrave on your headstone? did the Berlin Wall lead to East and West Germany developing separate dialects? why did medieval Europe believe in a demon whose sole job was making typos? what's the history of the word bisexual? This isn't a laugh out loud type of show, but the host does approach her subject with humor and curiosity, which I appreciate.

8. Sawbones. One of the brothers from MBMBAM and his wife, who is a doctor, discuss the weird, terrible medical practices of the past – bloodletting, black bile, patent medicines, etc – and the weird, terrible medical practices of the present day – drinking bleach, anti-vaxxers, the keto diet, etc – with a sense of humor. I probably would have placed this show higher if I'd made this list last year, because recently they've been focusing more on contemporary issues, which tend to be less funny. And I get it, vaccines are important! But there's only so many episodes I can to listen to on that topic before it gets boring.

7. My Favorite Murder. Yes, I am the last person on earth to start listening to this EXTREMELY FAMOUS podcast in which two women comedians discuss true crime cases, both historical and recent, and I only began listening last month. I'm not entirely sure I'll stick with this podcast longterm, but so far I've found it strangely addictive. It's surprisingly light in mood for such a heavy topic, which makes it a good listen for when I want something I only need half a brain for.

6. Gastropod. Another "This American Life" style podcast. In this one the two hosts, both women journalists, focus on the history and science of food. Some of my favorite episodes include the one on cilantro (what is the science behind the haters?), the one on a maple syrup crime ring, and the one on if eating off a literal silver spoon can make your food taste better.

5. My Brother, My Brother, and Me. Everyone already knows about this podcast, don't they? Just in case you've missed out: three comedian brothers respond to advice questions (both questions emailed directly to them and random ones pulled off of Yahoo! Answers) with a mix of deliberately terrible and genuinely sweet advice. Occasionally interrupted by other projects, such as the oldest brother's news updates on fast food developments, or reading ebay auctions of haunted dolls.

4. The Dollop. Hosted by two comedians, both extremely unknowledgeable about American history. Despite that, one host finds and researches a strange incident therein and presents it to the other, who reacts. Episodes I've listened to recently include topics like the origin of the Ouija board, the Rajneeshee cult, mountain man Hugh Glass (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Revenant"), and the history of the LAPD. Even when I'm already familiar with the subject matter, their commentary makes me laugh out loud.
A sidenote: history, inevitably, tends to involve racism, sexism, people being just generally terrible to one another, and many related topics. The hosts are both straight white men, and have the blindspots you'd expect. That said, I've been honestly surprised at how willing they are to learn and to correct themselves just in the small percentage of their backlog that I've gone through.

3. Apocalist Book Club. Two women read every post-apocalyptic novel ever written in chronological order, starting with "The Last Man" by Jean-Baptiste De Grainville (1805). Some of the books are terrible, but there's nothing as funny or as weird as the bad fiction of another era. This podcast is a relatively recent discovery for me, but I'm almost out of episodes and very sad that they update only once a month.

2. The Baby-Sitters Club Club. Two thirty-something dudes, comedians, review each book in Ann M. Martin's classic preteen-girl series, The Baby-Sitters Club. I realize that this sounds like a set-up for mockery and condescension, but the hosts instead show a lot of love for the series: arguing about who is the best babysitter, debating the deeper themes of the series, analyzing the writing styles of the different ghostwriters who took over after the first thirty books, tracking the careers of rarely mentioned side-characters, and so on. I absolutely love listening to this podcast, and am very worried about it ending soon, as they've read nearly all the potential Baby-Sitters content. But I never want it to end!

1. Alternate Ending. A podcast about movies with three hosts: Tim, "the expert"; Carrie, "the casual viewer" (aka the person who knows nothing about movies); and Rob, who is sort of the in-between in terms of movie knowledge. Most episodes have a theme, and each host brings their own list of movies to discuss (recent examples: "Top 5 Nicole Kidman movies", "Top 5 movies about divorce", "Top 5 cats"). I've been a fan of Tim's written movie reviews for many years – he's absolutely the person who taught me to notice things like shot composition and set dressing, though I'm still trying to figure out editing – because of his wonderful mix of critical technical analysis and appreciation for underappreciated genres like slasher flicks and Disney animation. Also he writes hilarious reviews of bad movies, such as this one for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. The podcast is all of this plus great chemistry between three friends. It is my very first listen whenever new episodes download.

What podcasts to do you listen to? Anything you'd recommend for me? These aren't all the ones I listen to, but I'm happy to talk about others as well!

1. "Hair Ice" is a thing! And is very lovely.

2. From osprey_archer: the new Pixar short, Kitbull. A tiny feral kitten befriends a fighting pitbull. It is adorable and emotional and completely perfect.

3. An excellent article on the appeal of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

4. Conspiracy theory-style memes, but for reality. I am so here for this.

5. Carrie Ann Lucas, a disability rights activist, dies after her insurance company denied her medicine. I would really like it if this year could stop sounding like an unsubtle satire.

Because I have so, so many tabs open.

1. Daughter of Necessity by Marie Brennan. Fascinating take on The Odyssey from Penelope's perspective. What does she weave, exactly?

2. on rats and men by potted_music. Gorgeous fic for The Terror, Gibson/Hickey. Warnings for everything you would expect from that pairing.

3. Who's got their hand in the oopsy jar? by Edonohana. Hot, hilarious, and perfect fic for A SImple Favor, with a simply genius ending. Emily/Stephanie, NC-17.

4. Fanvid for My Cat From Hell. The song choice alone killed me.

5. Great article on The Birth of the Cool Guy:
Cool Guy doesn’t knit, but he definitely owns a pink pussy hat (ordered from a female artist on Etsy, as he’ll conspicuously let you know). When he’s not tweeting about toxic masculinity, he’s hanging out in the replies on feminist threads, apologizing on behalf of all men everywhere for being such trash. Cool Guy writes a several-thousand-word New York Times op-ed flagellating himself for having ogled the butts of his teenage classmates once upon a time, in a quest to ignite a public movement of male confession with himself at its center (suggested hashtag: #IAmSexist)—or just fantasizes about a world where women have all the power and men simply cease to exist.

This is so terribly recognizable. And I feel describes not just dudes trying to do a show of woke-ness, but some white people with anti-racism as well, along with other similar categories. Sigh.

So, as you may or may not be aware, fandom is in the midst of an enormous wank about fanfiction starring characters of color, if there is too little of it, and why that is. (I will spare you my own thoughts on the topic, mainly because I am annoyed with the whole debate.)

But! Much more productive than endless circles of wank is actually producing new fanworks! And so I present to you Seeing Color, a brand-new exchange focused on characters of color. It is operating, basically, on the Yuletide format: sign-up, get matched to someone, turn in a 1000 word fic to receive the same. Except in this case there is art, too! :D

Currently nominations are going on (until May 20th), so get your favorites in there, even if you're not sure you're going to sign up. I of course have totally already nominated Ben January and Underground, but I'm sure the tagset could use more characters in those fandoms. Plus, you know, other fandoms. That's good too.

Useful links!
The main DW comm through which Seeing Color is being run
The exchange FAQ
The tagset
The nomination form

And even if you're not interested in participating, I'd really appreciate it if you could signal boost this information, either on LJ or tumblr or wherever else. It's hard to get out the word about a new exchange, and I really want to see this one get enough participants to take off.

Is anyone else thinking about doing Night on Fic Mountain? I haven't 100% decided if I'm going to commit yet, but it looks like a lot of fun.

It's basically Yuletide for summer. Nominations are open here until Tuesday, and sign-ups will run April 1-15. Follow along at ficmountain or on Dreamwidth.

hc_bingo is starting its new round! Go here for details and to sign-up to get a bingo card. You'll have all the way until January to write your stories (or art, or whatever).

rarepairfest is taking nominations until Sunday! It's basically the same thing as ShipSwap or Yuletide: an exchange for rare pairings (or threesomes!), with 250 stories or less on AO3. I'm resisting the urge to nominate Ben January pairings until I've decided for sure if I want to sign up, but I've been watching the tag-set eagerly to see what other people nominate.

Any other exchanges or fests going on now that you're participating in?

Some random unrelated links I've collected and want share:

Final Hour - really lovely BtvS vid.

A wonderful rec list of SFF books by female authors.

An interesting post about sex in Colonial America.

An incredibly sad but true comic. It's hila-terrible!

The Uncharted Sea by Mahoni. Bandom (though I totally just read it as original fic), M (for violence/non-con), mostly gen (with subtext), 118k. Absolutely fantastic story. I love the worldbuilding in this- it's a mix of steampunk, sci-fi, and fantasy elements, which seems like it shouldn't work, but which really, really does, and is constructed and revealed in such an well-done way. The backstories and central mystery are given a slow-burn tension that's rare to see so well-done in fanfiction (like, I love fanfiction, but it does tend to specialize in shorter formats). It has many of my favorite tropes- found family, honorable criminals, desperate rescues. There's action and fight scenes and travel and it's just basically a fantastic novel.

Three Days (or The One Where Javert and Valjean Take a Road Trip Through France and Raise a Child) by zamwessell. Les Miserables, E, Javert/Valjean, 36k. Well, the subtitle really says it all, doesn't it? I haven't read much on the JVJ side of Les Mis fandom, but I'm so glad I read this one. It does a wonderful gradual build of affection and love between the two main characters, and the writing is lovely and in-character.

Because apparently my job right now is to pimp fic-writing challenges, let me tell you all about shipswap! It is an exchange much like Yuletide, except that it's for rare ships rather than rare fandoms. Sign-ups are open from now until February 10th, and you'll have nearly two months (Feb 14 until April 11) to work on your assignment.

Neatest of all, Ship Swap takes both fanfic and fanart!

Nominated fandoms and pairings here! (Also, yes, I totally nominated a bunch of Ben January ships, do you even have to ask?)
Sign up here!

I am way behind on this. In my defense, I am dying of consumption have the flu.

Day 2: In your own space, promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Antagony & Ecstasy is a very, very wonderful movie review blog that I have been reading for years and love no less today than I did long ago. Tim (the reviewer!) is hilarious, thoughtful, and full of all sorts of film knowledge and insight. In particular, I recommend his in-depth series on all of the Disney animated movies; Summer of Blood, where he reviews horror movies; or, because reviews of bad movies are always the best to read, this take on Homefront.

The Comics Curmudgeon - Josh reads daily newspaper comics. Which I can't deny is kind of a weird thing to write a blog about, and yet somehow it is SO FUNNY. I never knew I could be so invested in the plot of Mary Worth.

Fallen London - a very entertaining and addictive (also free!) browser game. Imagine a crossover between a Steampunk London, the Cthulhu mythos, the revolutionary parts of Les Mis, and Good Omens. I have recently married a Master Jewel Thief, and am spending a lot of my time in Mahogany Hall, performing on stage.
If anyone else already plays, feel free to send me actions. I am Draupadi, an irresistible, breathtaking, inescapable and sagacious lady.

Here are some vids I have liked recently! You should watch them and like them also, or tell me more vids to watch.

Homewrecker by fahrbotdrusilla. Anna Karenina. So, I may be the only person in the world in love with last year's Anna Karenina movie (Even though I didn't like the book? But the movie! I totally saw it multiple times in theaters shut up it is SO PRETTY), but even if you didn't see it and/or like it, this vid is awesome and kickass and I love it.

Supremacy by rhoboat. Craig James Bond. I haven't seen most of the Craig Bond movies, and also I have a sort of inexplicable hatred for Muse, but somehow none of that matters because this vid is amazing and perfect and so well-constructed.

Devil Wouldn't Recognize You by obsessive24. Elementary. Another one where I haven't seen the canon (though I've been meaning to watch it), but the lyrics and the images are just put together so well you get the story from the vid alone. obsessive24 is one of my favorite vid makers.

Alice by Pogo. Disney's Alice in Wonderland. This is weird and not at all like most vids, and yet I find it somehow fascinating.

Va Va Voom by Jetpack_Monkey. I Love Lucy. It's I Love Lucy to a Nicki Minaj song! What more do you need to know? Funny and brilliant.

Run Boy Run by hollywoodgrrl. Game of Thrones. This is by far my favorite; if you only watch one vid from this post, make it this one. Beautiful and smart and horrifying, it's a commentary on violence and women in the GoT world. I love the parallels set up between such disparate characters.