straightforwardly

► I’m now officially caught up on Dragon Friends! And have finished the third season in the process. (I’ve not listened to the special yet, though, mostly because I just saw that it existed when I started writing this post.) ( all the spoilers beneath the cut! )

► I watched/rewatched Labyrinth with my mom last Saturday (she’d never seen it before). ( brief note )

► A bit over a week ago, I read this Avatar: The Last Airbender fic:

such selfish prayers (Katara-centric, with a side of Zuko/Katara, 47K)
Katara's ambition, so long set aside for the good of others, breaks free and sets fire to her soul. Or, Katara has a vision of her canon future, casts it aside, and becomes a world-changing politician instead.

And I did enjoy it, but for some reason, I walked out of it craving Katara/Hermione? I think it was because this fic definitely concentrated on the “I will never turn my back on people who need me” aspects of Katara’s personality, and it reminded me of Hermione and her own crusades for political change, especially with the house elves. They’d understand one another, I think.

(I’m not sure what it is with me and f/f crossover ships this year. With a few exceptions, I’ve always been pretty indifferent to crossover ships, but this year I’ve been racking them up like crazy.)

► Today's Christmas, which in my family means Mandatory Family Movie Night. This time around we went for a rewatch of The Lion King, and I swear, that movie gets sadder every time I watch it. ( cut for those who would rather skip this )

I mean. It's still an excellent movie. It's just that it's also really, really sad.

► On a completely different note... Yuletide fics are up! I got a really, really adorable fic for A Little Lily Princess.

A Cat on the Hearth (1764 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: A Little Lily Princess (Visual Novel)
Rating: Not Rated
Relationships: Jessie Abbott/Lavinia Herbert
Characters: Jessie Abbott, Lavinia Herbert
Summary: After their graduation, Jessie and Lavinia continue to dance around each other.

Yes, that's a post-canon Jessie/Lavinia fic. With cats. :D Or, more precisely, a cat.

I'll make my usual recs post sometime this week. Right now, I'm still working my way through the collection. There's been some pretty great fics so far, though.

► So, about a month ago, I went to see Frozen in theaters with a friend of mine. In short, I really, really loved it, and have been listening to a million different versions of "Let It Go" ever since. (There were other songs I really liked too, but it doesn't seem as though they caught on in the same way, so "Let It Go" it is.)

Some of my favorites include this male cover (if you want a direct youtube link, that's here, but I liked the pretty art associated with the tumblr link), the German version, the Danish version, and this ASL video (which, while not being different vocally, still is pretty awesome to look at), to name a few.

► Keeping with the Frozen semi-theme of this post... most of the articles about it that I've run into I've been irritated by, but I did like this analysis of the film, and wanted to link to it. It just hit a lot of points I felt strongly about, and articulated why I felt that way much better than I ever could have done.

Oh, and I just ran across The Frozen Girl: Visual Cues and Evil Femininity, which is another article about the movie that I liked.

► Speaking of music, I am kind of really in love with this (apparently) 1920's version of Lana del Ray's "Young and Beautiful". I have mixed feelings about the 2013 film version of The Great Gatsby, but I did really love both this song and the scene it was in, and now it's gotten even better.

► I think I make it clear that I fangirl Zeiva really, really hard. So when I found out that they decided to do a Kickstarter for their next game... well, I'm feeling so-so about what we know about the plot, and I'm still super-tempted to throw thirty dollars down, because Zeiva. They've never let me down. Besides, the second and third stretch goals sound absolutely AMAZING.