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I've been feeling fairly critical about things recently. So, a post of things that have been making me happy that may make you happy too.

Reading my dreamwidth network without the feeds. The ratio of stuff I want to read to stuff I don't is much more useful.

The Manga Guide to Databases by Mana Takahashi: For anyone who has wanted the fundamentals of Databases and SQL explained to them in the form of a cute manga about a princess and a fairy. No, really, it's adorable. It's not the best textbook ever, I did learn some stuff but a lot of the explanations were very shallow, I think it would work best as introduction in conjunction with a more dense text with lots of in-depth definitions. And the plot is pretty light, I can't see it appealing to anyone who isn't genuinely interested in databases (which I am, having used them at my old job with no theoretical training beyond my second year Computer Science data structures course) But I was the perfect audience, and I enjoyed it :)

The Morishima Akiko tag at daily_yuri (she can also be found at Lililicious), especially "Off Time" and "Happy Picture Diary", which both show the happy lives of adult lesbian Japanese women (as opposed to angsty schoolgirls as in a lot of yuri). Her comics are always so adorable and happy.

Some vids (mostly angsty, because angsty vids make me happy):

• Rolling in the Deep: all the Xmen films. The Charles/Erik vid I've always wanted. (Well, it's more focussed on them rather than the broader themes than I'd like, but that's not really an objective flaw)
  
• Seamstress Nikita: The Nikita&Alex vid I never knew I needed. I've watched very little Nikita but the complex codependent mentor thing hits all my buttons.
  
• Don't Lose Yourself Doctor Who. Donna ;_;
  
• Around Us Avatar the Last Airbender. I had to go back through a few pages of bookmarks to find something genuinely happy :)
  

Just started watching Nikita and Lost Girl. Both are a little B-grade but also have stuff you just don't see in tv normally. (nb these are my initial opinions, which may change later)

They have competent sensible slightly woobieish kickass female leads in their late twenties(*) who have been given their deadly abilities without their will(**) but refuse to be pushed around by the powerful forces that put them in that position. The secondary lead is a spunky Ukranian girl from the wrong side of the tracks(***).
( Read more... )

Also, I am playing Echo Bazaar. It's a silly-but-witty browser text based RPG like Kingdom of Loathing, but with a Lovecraftian steampunky setting plus a commitment to diversity. Lots of fun. I am playing a person of indeterminate gender who has written 400 stanzas about mushrooms, seduced an artist and his model, and is currently trying to find a devil that has absconded from Hell. There is apparently a social aspect but I haven't figured that out yet.

(*) Interestingly, the actresses are in their thirties.
(**) There are male superpowered characters who angst about their powers and wish for a Normal Life, but it does seem to happen more consistently to women :/
(***) Admitedly, in one case it's the actress and the other it's the character, but as the descendant of working class Ukrainian immigrants to North America I'm counting them both.