I'll probably have more later as I rewatch vids that premiered last weekend, but here are some I really liked.

The Song We Were Singing
Phenomenal Beatles RPF vid

From the Air
Person of Interest Season 4, Episode 11 from The Machine’s POV

The War Was In Color
Multifandom vid of heroic WWII veterans of color.

We Like to Party
The Farscape folks getting frisky

Bigger on the Inside
Doctor Who: 14 and Donna!

The System is Down
Severance: Unusual audio & editing for an unusual source makes a fantastic vid

I’m Unstoppable
Star Wars: The unstoppable life of Leia Organa

Velodrome
Silo - the cycles of living in the silo

Earlier today I had a vid premiere at vidukon_cardiff

Dumb Ways to Die shows some of the ridiculous deaths from the series.




Also on A03

My list for April includes a wide variety of sources. Vintage cookbooks, a biographies, a graphic novel, and several works on this year's Hugo finalist list.

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
An enjoyable sf mystery novel. The character development/romance was nice, but certain aspects of the world-building didn't totally work for me.

Rose/House by Arkady Martine
A sf murder mystery where a police detective tries to untangle the truth about a dead body among the illusions generated by an abandoned AI-protected house. Very, very good.

David Whitaker In an Exciting Adventure With Television by Simon Guerrier
At Gallifrey One last February I went to a talk by Guerrier on the history of British television leading up to 1963 and the beginning of Doctor Who. That kind of well-documented historical research is totally my thing. Only one dealer in the dealers room had this book and I snagged the last one. A really detailed look at Whitaker's life and his forgotten importance to DW.

The Witches of World War II by Paul Cornell, Valerie Burzo (art), and Jordie Bellaire (color artist)
A great alternate universe in which British witches are employed in covert ops during the war. I initially bought it thinking my oldest granddaughter might like it, but she might not have the context regarding the war and leading 20th century occult figures to really get it.

Home Canning and Drying of Fruits and Vegetables by National War Garden Commission
One of my current research interests is in how American households approached the food restrictions during the First World War. This guide was interesting. It embraces those new to food preservation without being condescending. Very well illustrated. The section on drying was great and included some vegetables I'd never considered dehydrating before. Might try out some of these this summer.

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
A fantastic sf novel with alternate universes that touches on so many themes: cults & authoritarian societies, family, compassion & empathy, xenophobia, etc. But mainly its a novel about characters who grow and discover their own strengths and weaknesses. This went to the top of my Hugo ballot.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Another wonderful twist on a classic fairy tale. This time she turns the tables on Snow White.

Mammoths at the Gate by Nigh Vo
The fourth book in The Singing Hills Cycle, this one focused on character, grief and community, commenting on how history should not be amended for the comfort of the living.

A Chef on Ice: Living and Working as a Chef in Antarctica by Sebastian JM Kuhn
I received a copy as part of LibraryThing's monthly Early Reviewer giveaway, it's an interesting story about creatively feeding people in extreme conditions.

February was a weird month. Traveling to Los Angeles for Gallifrey One and to rural Arkansas for a family funeral shaped the mental energy and time I had for books but I managed to read seven, with no sf and one fantasy. That's an odd pattern for me.

The Great Danbury State Fair by Andrea Zimmerman
I moved to Connecticut a couple of years ago and since I'm working as a volunteer archivist at the Danbury Museum, I thought I'd better start reading up on the history of the area.

James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories
A cozy audiobook, filled mostly with stories I'd already read or seen in the series.

The Manner of Making Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate by Sylvestre Dufour (1671, translated to English in 1685)
In an ongoing research project (looking for the earliest cookie recipes using chocolate) I stumbled onto this classic. Pulling from a wide range of sources, Dufour concentrates on these plants as medicinal beverages from the four humours POV. But he also includes snippets from travel reports of Europeans visiting Asia and Mexico.

The Defector by  Chris Hadfield
I really liked Hadfield's previous book, The Apollo Murders, which drew on his experience in international space mission. This time he focuses on international espionage in the world of test pilots and cutting edge aviation, drawing on another aspect of his professional life.  Really liked this.

Vet in Harness by James Herriot
Another great collection of stories focusing on the year just prior to the UK being plunged into WWII.

Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
While generally enjoyable, I've decided that Christie is at her best in longer fiction.

Montrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
A delightful poke at the ridiculousness of war in general, and more specifically at the stupidity of men in support of war.

I woke up this morning to find I had THREE festivids gifts! Two for The Banshees of Inhisherin and one for Mrs. Davis. I grabbed my first cup of coffee and watched them all. More thoughts later, but I never expected Banshees vid to make me laugh out loud. Well done, vidders, well done.

Digging around in an old hard drive, looking for video from a dvd I'd ripped 10 years ago I found a stash of long-forgotten fanfic I'd written. In the mid-1990s I was totally immersed in X-Files, watching it, reading fanfic and, eventually writing some myself. About 2003 my fannish attention drifted away to Highlander and other places and I took a break from writing. By 2006 all my creative attention was invested in vidding.

Most of my fanfic was written under the name J. Millington, I pseud I'd adopted during grad school and the subsequent job hunt. I wasn't sure any potential employer would see the beauty in Mulder/Skinner slash. Of the 56 works on my AO3 only 8 are fanfic. I think I'll take some time to look at the recovered stories and post them online if they still hold up

Music: I'm pretty eclectic with music selection and vids. I know when I'm vidding I sometimes end up with some unexpected sources. I do have a few DNW, I don't generally like heavy metal, country or rap

Vid likes: I love found family, teamwork, humor, character studies and narrative deep dives.

Endgame (Canada TV 2011)
I'd love a vid that focuses on Arkady's quirky style in solving his "people puzzles" or maybe one that focuses on Alcina and how her grounded focus offsets Arkady's eccentricities.

Mrs. Davis (TV)
There is so much to work with here, go wild and surprise me.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
The movie focuses on the disintegration of friendship and I've love to see that. Or maybe a vid from Siobhán's POV

WGA / SAG-AFTRA 2023 Strike (Event)
Anything, just celebrate the action of workers against corporate greed

You Me and the Apocalypse
I initially started watching this series because I'd finished binging Horrible Histories and I saw Matthew Baynton was a lead actor. But there are so many fantastic characters, relationships and general weirdness I'd love to see something of a road trip to the apocalypse.

深夜食堂 | Shinya Shokudo | Midnight Diner (Japan TV)
I love this series so much. Either a character study of the Master or a found family-like focus on his regular customers would make me very happy.

When I post something on AO3 for a con or an online exchange I’ll look at the hits and comments for a bit, but I do ‘t regularly follow my stats. I started fannish creations with X-Files fanfic in the 90s, moved on to Highlander vidding, but for the past decade or so have vidded a wide range of sources.

Most hits: Threesome archiveofourown.org/works/4042081 an old Highlander vid
Second: The Flood https://archiveofourown.org/works/67868 an even older X-Files story I’d totally forgotten about.

Most kudos: Everything Stops For Tea https://archiveofourown.org/works/11737848 a multifandom vid 
Second: Secret Agent https://archiveofourown.org/works/27949259 an Emma Peel-focused vid from The Avengers (1961)

Most comments: Show  Business https://archiveofourown.org/works/17105879 LotR RPF vid from the dvd bonus features
Second: What We Live For https://archiveofourown.org/works/16225760 Doctor Who vid

Most bookmarks: Secret Agent 
Second: Friends https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002559 another Highlander vid

I think what surprised me most was that any of my X-Files fic is still being read. 

Ten years ago Ann Leckie published Ancillary Justice, the first book set in her Imperial Radch universe. I loved that book and its exploration of what AI consciousness and personality.  While I enjoyed all the other books in that world, none blew me away like the first.

Leckie's newest book in this world, Translation State, came out this year. It almost feels like a YA coming-of-age story diving into what it means to be human, what constitutes, and how meaningful it is to be free to make personal gender decisions. One of the things I really loved about this book was Leckie's exploration of very non-human species and how various species who cannot meet physically can find meaningful ways to interact together.

In my rewatch I've reached 11th Doctor's first season and I'm reminded how my low expectations for Matt Smith were crushed under his unexpectedly great performance. He looked like a gangly kid in his mid-20s and I was convinced that he wouldn't be able to bring depth to the role. In The Eleventh Hour, although I loved his somewhat goofy portrayal the moment he stepped through the images of all his past selves to declare to the Atraxi, "I am the Doctor", I was sold.

In Victory of the Daleks, the cold rage he brought to the Daleks realistically portrayed a being drawing upon the long, long battle with an enemy he wanted so deeply to defeat.




And that pre-credits scene from The Time of Angels solidified my love both for River Song and the Doctor/River Song relationship.