What I've been watching (and reading)

[alias_sqbr]

Since I just finished an actual book printed on paper.

What I've been reading:
Steampowered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories. Edited by Joselle Vanderhooft, written by many people but most importantly the AMAZING AND TALENTED Stephanie Lai.

Overall I quite enjoyed it! Most of the authors made an effort to do interesting and inclusive worldbuilding, with stories set in China and Turkey and Malaysia etc all exploring what "steampunk" might mean in that setting. And they all had queer female main characters! They were still a bit...short story-ish for my tastes, lots of bittersweet endings and a few vignettes that didn't really go anywhere when what I like is actual stories with a narrative arc and a happy ending. And beyond that the quality was patchy. But there were enough stories I liked to keep me reading and I'm overall glad I read it.

What I've been watching:

Coffee Prince: Great!
All About my Romance: Ok

Failed to watch:

Hannibal:Not my sort of thing
The Mindy Project: BAD, I didn't manage to finish the first episode
Pretty Little Liars
DAL JA’S SPRING
I can't think straight
The Fosters

What I'm watching:

Kimi no Todoke: really sweet anime about a shy awkward girl gaining friends and self confidence (I've read heaps of the manga)
Little Mosque: patchy but nice enough comedy set in a Canadian mosque
Little Witch Academia: Cute little anime combining Hogwarts with a Japanese girls school
Orphan Black: Really good scifi thriller so far, but I am not in the mood for anything tense right now so it's on pause
Chihayafuru: it's stopped being quite so slow now it's nearing the end of the season

What I'm reading:
The Chihayafuru manga. The tv show finally caught up to the end of the random gap in the translations, hurrah!

Also Homestuck just started up again after a hiatus and I am full of feels.

What I'll be watching next:
Sunkyunkwan Scandal
Capital Scandal
CITY HUNTER
YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL
My Girl
Ao Hana
Amar Akbar Anthony
Morgan

Further recs for K dramas appreciated, alas I can't find a source for Queen in Hyun's Man or it'd be on the list. Also interesting collections of short stories that don't all have sad/creepy/bittersweet endings (Or have enough interesting ideas that I won't mind) Accessible not-too-depressing short essays, too. I need something new to read on the bus :) Maybe I should just give up and load up the Kindle with fanfic.


Things I mean to watch on Crunchy Roll:
Gintama
Kids on the Slope
Free!
Kaiji
Silver Spoon
Natsume Yujin-cho (There are two of these, afaict the more recent one is the sequel)
Girls und Panzer
Chi's Sweet Home
Space Brothers (though idk I hear it's sad)

Things on Crunchy Roll I have seen and recommend:
Skip Beat
Bodacious Space Pirates
Durarara (sort of)
Little Witch Academia
Chihayafuru
Hourou Musuko Wandering Son

Stuff on Hulu I have seen some or all of:
serial experiments lain
Baccano
Daria
Madoka Magica
danger mouse
new girl
daily show
Farscape

Stuff I haven't seen and may try:
last exile
Protect the Boss
Noir
Feast of the Gods

Comments

[lea_hazel]

I'm so behind on Homestuck. /bad fan

[alias_sqbr]

I find I have to stay up to date or my tumblr dash spoils all the good bits.

[hebethen]

Baccano <3 It's gory, though, in case you don't know yet. I love it but I always do the screen-covering thing.

Have you read Ursula K. LeGuin's "Changing Planes"? It's definitely got interesting ideas, though I can't say it doesn't have its share of creepies and sads. I also have enjoyed the Firebird fantasy anthologies edited by Sharyn November, of which there are currently three, I believe; they're varied enough that I think you'd be able to find your happy/earned endings. I can remember a few off the top of my head, anyway :)

An interesting-looking K-drama I started but didn't continue due to my inability to stomach extended, well, drama -- Feast of the Gods, which I found on Crunchyroll and don't know if you'll have viewing access to. It's about rival chefs and their daughters and there's a cute best friend with a stutter :]

//edit: Thinking about it, if you can handle the gore, Baccano might be a great fit. It's very... uplifting is a weird word to use, but something in that family of words.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes I have seen and loved Baccano! So great.

Thanks for the other recs!

Recommendations

[brainwane]

Further recs for K dramas appreciated, alas I can't find a source for Queen in Hyun's Man or it'd be on the list. Also interesting collections of short stories that don't all have sad/creepy/bittersweet endings (Or have enough interesting ideas that I won't mind) Accessible not-too-depressing short essays, too. I need something new to read on the bus :) Maybe I should just give up and load up the Kindle with fanfic.

You might enjoy skimming the Reading category on my blog, which includes some recs for short stories & fanfic. Also, I haven't tried it, but there's an anthology of optimistic SF.

I think this article may amuse you.

Re: Recommendations

[alias_sqbr]

Thanks! *starts poking through recs*

And yes that article was interesting (and made me spend some time looking at a world map going "Huh, I never noticed India had that shape before" Geography has never been my strong point)

[yiduiqie]

:)

[skygiants]

I think you are already planning to watch most of the kdramas I would recommend! Although if you like epic fantasy, I quite like Legend of the First King's Four Gods -- it's a dense, plotty Korean fantasy epic with a lot of really interesting female characters.

[alias_sqbr]

Thanks! Doesn't look like it's on Hulu but I'll see if I can access it another way.