YouTube RPF: In My Way by INeverHadMyInternetPhase

4 Feb 2026 04:32 pm
[personal profile] susieboo posting in [community profile] fancake

Fandom: YouTube RPF / Fantastic Foursome RPF
Pairings/Characters: Dan Howell / Phil Lester, PJ Liguori
Rating: Teen and Up
Content Notes: No AO3 warnings apply
Length: 147,120 words, 25 chapters
Creator Links: AO3 profile
Theme: Inept in Love, Enemies to Friends to Lovers

Summary: From AO3:

"Daniel Howell is 21 and Britain’s newest star. He’s just been cast in the much-anticipated film adaption of Last Man Standing, the popular teen fantasy novel with a huge fanbase hanging off his every tweet. In other words, Dan has made it big.

Phil Lester couldn’t care less. He’s a stressed out PHD student working part time at a bookshop while he struggles to get into post-production. He’s 26 and still lives in a tiny flat on the fifth floor of a building with a lift more broken than it is in use. He loves books, but he thinks big film adaptions screw with the plot too much.

Needless to say, Phil is less than impressed when Last Man Standing is getting filmed in his hometown. And he certainly doesn’t want anything to do with obnoxious, arrogant, so irritatingly perfect leading actor Daniel Howell."
 

Reccer's Notes: This is genuinely one of the best fanfic experiences I've ever had. Not only is it hilarious and heartwarming, it depicts Phil as asexual and explores that side of his identity really well, with lots of nuance and care. It was deeply meaningful for me to read as I came to grips with my own identity, and I have nothing but fondness for this story.

Fanwork Links: AO3 link.

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980)

4 Feb 2026 04:11 pm
pauraque: butterfly trailing a rainbow through the sky from the Reading Rainbow TV show opening (butterfly in the sky)
[personal profile] pauraque
In 17th century West Africa, an immortal woman named Anyanwu encounters another immortal for the first time, a man named Doro. But while Anyanwu is a healer who uses her powers to help others, Doro is a brutal manipulator who has been gathering people with paranormal powers and attempting to breed a race of superhumans under his iron fist. Anyanwu is the only other immortal he has ever found, and he intends to use her as "breeding stock" to make more. The novel follows centuries of their power struggle after Doro takes Anyanwu to the New World, as she strives to protect those under Doro's control and he strives to bend her to his will.

This is the chronologically earliest novel in Butler's Patternist series, though it was the fourth to be published. I was assured by leading experts (i.e. book club friends) that this is a perfectly good entry point to the series, so I started here and do not actually know yet what happens next!

It's the kind of book where it's hard to sit down and think of what to write about it, because it has so many layers that are worth thinking about and talking about, and they're all woven together so tightly and effectively that I'm not sure where to start pulling threads to unravel everything the book does. Butler had a gift for writing stories that resonate deeply with real situations without being simplistic, didactic one-to-one mappings. The speculative narrative and the real world historical setting illuminate each other in complex ways, and all the while Butler never loses sight of the characters as people with their own specific hurts, flaws, and needs. She makes it look so easy.

spoilery thoughtsThe obvious comparison is to her stand-alone novel Kindred, published just the previous year, which had a contemporary Black American woman time-traveling to the era of slavery. Anyanwu also travels from a life of freedom to the New World under slavery. Against this backdrop, Doro acts as a master over "his people" in the eugenics program—and he definitely uses the phrase to indicate ownership, not kinship. His program isn't legal slavery, but it is inextricably entwined with it; sometimes Doro buys enslaved people who have the powers he's looking for, and if they wanted to leave, how could they? Even if Doro didn't catch them, they'd only be fleeing into a land where they'd be assumed to be runaway slaves. Anyanwu's powers are a match for Doro's, so saving herself is an option, but he controls the lives of everyone she knows and cares about. What this book shares most strongly with Kindred is a devastating portrayal of how people can be trapped into compliance with systems of oppression.

The book's religious themes are also complex. Anyanwu does not pray to gods, as she feels she has all the power she needs within herself, but she does not see herself as superior to other people either. Meanwhile, Doro shamelessly plays the part of a god over his people because it serves his purposes and he can get away with it. But not a loving god. Rather he reminds me of the way people will sometimes talk about the so-called "Old Testament God": bloodthirsty and hypercontrolling, demanding absolute obedience and destroying anyone who gets in his way. In which case his favorite son Isaac plays the corresponding supposed role of Jesus: the "good cop" son who draws Anyanwu into trying to appease his father. If this is a distorted image of Christian theology, well, distortion and misuse of Christian faith are certainly a deliberate theme in the book, as Anyanwu overtly calls out Christian enslavers for their hypocrisy.

On a deeper and unspoken level, the book comments on the thought processes underlying patriarchal power structures. Doro has the power to kill and he uses it to control others without a second thought; might makes right. Anyanwu could also use her powers to kill if she chose to, but it doesn't even occur to her. Instead she heals—but everything she has goes to other people, all her nurturing and self-sacrifice. She has total control over her own body's inner workings (while Doro doesn't even have his original body anymore!), and she uses herself as a scientific test subject to learn to heal wounds and diseases, suffering pain and injury so others can recover. She always puts others first, and the rightness of this is so ingrained in the assumptions of the characters that nobody ever questions it. Even when she escapes Doro temporarily, she keeps coming back to him, in part because she can't bring herself to leave others unprotected.

The fact that Doro and Anyanwu both have male and female bodies at different points in the story made me think about how patriarchy isn't defined by anatomy, but by power dynamics. I would not describe either of them as trans characters, but there is a trans resonance with the way Anyanwu remains confident in her womanhood regardless of her physical form, and in the many ways she remains vulnerable to misogyny even when people who don't know her read her as a man.

The bond between Anyanwu and Doro is both twisted and deeply understandable. They're the only two immortals; everyone else they know grows old and dies. They're lonely. Doro wants someone like him, but he can't get that by force, much as he has been trying. Anyanwu's well of empathy seems boundless, but somehow excludes herself. Her threat of suicide makes sense as it's the only way she can escape the cycle of returning to him again and again—she can't trust herself not to keep going back as long as she is like him. And the only way she can be unlike him, as she sees it, is to sacrifice her immortality and die.

The book's protagonist is a healer, and I think one of the book's core questions is who deserves healing, and who is too far gone to ever be healed. Doro tries to punish Anyanwu by forcing her to bear a child by Thomas, an uncontrolled psychic who is so deep in addiction and depression that he has become physically repellent. To Doro's surprise, Anyanwu responds with empathy (her greatest superpower, I think) and begins to heal Thomas's physical and mental wounds. Doro's reaction—to murder Thomas and possess his body—is the moment when he tells on himself the most. He intends to show power and cruelty, and he does, but he also reveals himself as a desperately isolated person who yearns to be healed, to be transformed from something repulsive into someone loveable. The book has the courage to leave it less than settled how possible that really is for him.

So, I guess I'll be continuing this series! I have been warned that not all of the books in it are this good. I'm sure I will cope somehow.
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FFA DW Post #2427 He wears a disguise to look like red-tailed guys, but he's not a hawk, he's a loon

5 Feb 2026 09:03 am
sunnymodffa: Picture of an angry swan in a cardboard box (Swan in a Box)
[personal profile] sunnymodffa posting in [community profile] fail_fandomanon
 
In movies and TV shows whenever you hear a wolf howl, that’s actually a recording of a loon.

All that Shane moaning? Also a loon.

It's loons all the way down.

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Absolute Superman #16: Lex Gets A Visitor

4 Feb 2026 11:30 am
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(no subject)

4 Feb 2026 08:18 am
olivermoss: (Default)
[personal profile] olivermoss
Finished Annie Bot for book club, one of my book clubs, and wow I hated this book. The book didn't interest me, but a lot of people in book club were hyped over the pick. Early in the book the bot is reading Jorge Luis Borges, who I love. Also, it's a shorter book this time so early on I was into it.

( Read more... )
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Fancake Theme for February: Inept in Love

4 Feb 2026 08:16 am
runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk (punk rock girl)
[personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] fandomcalendar
Photograph of two kingfishers perched on a branch. One is surrounded by a cloud of pink love hearts and the other has a single question mark over its head. Text: Inept in Love, at Fancake.
[community profile] fancake is a thematic recommendation community where all members are welcome to post recs, and fanworks of all shapes and sizes are accepted. Check out the community guidelines for the full set of rules.

This theme runs for the entire month. If you have any questions, just ask!
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DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 Bonus Cross-Over Fights

4 Feb 2026 10:04 am
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Amazing Spider-Man #21

4 Feb 2026 10:00 am
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Minor operations; testing new serving path

3 Feb 2026 10:25 pm
mark: A photo of Mark kneeling on top of the Taal Volcano in the Philippines. It was a long hike. (Default)
[staff profile] mark posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance

Hi all!

I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.

Thank you!

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, February 3

3 Feb 2026 09:12 pm
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[personal profile] rahirah posting in [community profile] su_herald
Gunn: "So, are we talking Armageddon - or bad house number? Is it a bad event - or a bad guy?"
Wes: "It's not clear on that. It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-clan, the person or being that brings about the ruination of mankind."
Gunn: "So it's a two for one. Isn't that nice."
Wes: "And I'm not sure on the translation. Ruination may in fact mean purification."
Gunn: "Purification? So this Tro-clan is a good thing?"
Wes: "I doubt that. But it's purification in Aramaic, ruination in ancient Greek and in the lost Ga-shundi language it means both."

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Winter objects.

3 Feb 2026 08:15 pm
hannah: (Interns at Meredith's - gosh_darn_icons)
[personal profile] hannah
In a combined effort of using something up to have fewer things in my apartment, and to add some coziness to cold nights, I've taken to lighting the scented candles I've had around for a good long while - many years, for a few of them. At this point, I'm not really burning them for the scents anymore so much as I am for the ritual.

Speaking of, with my new coat arriving, I definitely don't have any reason to keep the old one around. Just excuses. Not even "I'm at work most of the day" cuts it as the closest place is open before my clients expect me. I don't like that it's just excuses, and hopefully that'll help push me to get it dealt with sooner.
  • Current Mood: tired
  • Current Music: nothing now

Vidding

3 Feb 2026 06:24 pm
settiai: (Vidding -- settiai)
[personal profile] settiai
I've been slowly making my way through some of the new vids from this year's Festivids and, oh, do I miss vidding. A song that I used in a vid myself years ago came up on a Spotify playlist earlier, and I could still pretty much see the entire vid playing in my head as I was listening to it.

Part of me really wants to try to get back into it, but I know that I don't have the spoons for it. Not right now. I'd basically be starting from scratch when it comes to the various programs needed to properly vid, and even if I were to somehow get the spoons together to go to the trouble of getting everything I'd need? I'd still have to find the time for it. I barely have time to write fanfiction sometimes, and I can fit it in at work or on the bus - neither of which would be an option with vidding.

But, oh, that doesn't make me miss it any less.
  • Current Mood: sad
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February 2026: Chatter Post

NSFW 3 Feb 2026 11:03 pm
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Tuesday, February 3 - Promotion Day

NSFW 3 Feb 2026 09:47 pm
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AkuRoku Big Bang - Sign Ups Open!

NSFW 3 Feb 2026 02:43 pm
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Today was the day to watch Star Trek: the voyage Home by winterfoxdraws (SFW)

3 Feb 2026 02:22 pm
kingstoken: (Kirk Spock McCoy)
[personal profile] kingstoken posting in [community profile] fanart_recs
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Spock
Content Notes/Warnings: N/A
Medium: Digital 
Artist Website/Gallery: winterfoxdraws
Why this piece is awesome: Lovely motion in the piece of Spock with the whales  
Link: Tumblr
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The Clocks is not my favorite GAD but it is my favorite setup and I love a setup

3 Feb 2026 04:11 pm
cimorene: A small bronze table lamp with triple-layered orange glass shades (stylish)
[personal profile] cimorene
I have written some rather harsh things about John Dickson Carr, and I stand by them and by being a hater.

But I wanted to be able to articulate just what it is that bothers me about them, so I started reading some more of his work. I found a GAD blogger who loves the guy and picked ones he mentioned. I quite liked the first Sir Henry Merrivale mystery I read (originally published under the pseudonym Carter Dickson), 1943's She Died A Lady. Then I read 1944's Till Death Do Us Part, which is the first mystery I've ever read with a setup to rival Christie's The Clocks. The setup takes longer: about 30% of the novel. But it is fantastic.

In The Clocks, as you know, Bob, a war-hero sort of young man who later acts as sidekick to Poirot is walking down a residential street when a door opens and a young woman runs out screaming. She just arrived to this house and found it empty except for a dead body; she's a typist and was hired through a secretarial bureau. He goes in with her and they find the corpse in a room that also contains a whole bunch of different clocks for some reason (six maybe?). The owner of the house then returns. She's blind, she didn't hire the typist, she has no connection with the victim and doesn't know how he got there, and she also doesn't own the clocks.

In Till Death Do Us Part the narrator (a playwright of crime thrillers) and his brand new fiancée go to a county fair. His fiancée first appears to have some sort of confrontation with the fortune teller (witnessed in silhouette through the tent), then accidentally shoots said fortune teller with a target rifle from outside the tent just as he was saying to the narrator, "I'm the famous criminologist from the Home Office and there's something I've got to tell you!" He is carried away by the doctor, but sends for the narrator to tell him that his fiancée is a murderess who has gotten away with poisoning two husbands and a past betrothed by injection of prussic acid so they looked like suicide, and that he wants the narrator's help to catch her. ( This is part of the setup but it's also a twist at like 30% of the book so )
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Quick HR/Game Changers rec

4 Feb 2026 01:13 am
luthien: (Default)
[personal profile] luthien
This is my favourite kind of established relationship fic, exploring the "learning how to be together" phase of a relationship. Sweet but in a believable and not too sweet way. This one contains some spoilers for The Long Game, but is mostly set after the end of that book.

Heaven Has Got Nothing On Us (Oh, I Love You Even When My Body Turns to Dust) (39629 words) by overlycaffeinatedgalaxy

Relationships: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

( Summary )
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The Twilight Zone #3

3 Feb 2026 06:00 am
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Mod Post: Off-Topic Tuesday

3 Feb 2026 08:40 am
icon_uk: Mod Squad icon (Mod Squad)
[personal profile] icon_uk posting in [community profile] scans_daily
In the comments to these weekly posts (and only these posts), it's your chance to go as off topic as you like.

Talk about non-comics stuff, thread derail, and just generally chat among yourselves.

The intent of these posts is to chat and have some fun and, sure, vent a little as required. Reasoned debate is fine, as always, but if you have to ask if something is going over the line, think carefully before posting please.

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It's been suggested that, if discussing spoilers for recent media events, it might be advisable to consider using the rot13 method to prevent other members seeing spoilers in passing.

The world situation is the world situation. If you're following the news, you know it as much as I do, if you're not, then there are better sources than scans_daily. But please, no doomscrolling, for your own sake.

A shout out to all in Minnesota who are doing a spectacular job of peacefully pissing off people in power (That came out more Stan Lee than I expected).

More of the Epstein files were released, and I've lost track of what is being released to distract from what because it seems to be a Möbius strip.

In what I think must be a first, Disney+ dropped all the episodes of their Yahya Abdul-Mateen II led "Wonder Man" series. One might suspect lack of confidence in their product in not even giving it a weekly release.

On the plus side, The Muppet Show special airs this week, and I think we all need something like that right now.

A documentary about the current FLOTUS also arrived to be greeted by reviews which were a gift to the sarcastic (My favourite remains "If they showed this as an in-flight movie, the audience would STILL walk out") and lots of photos of empty cinemas, though it did manage to get bums on seats in the US.

The Grammy's happened but, since my musical awareness rarely extends beyond oompah-bands and/or Himalayan throat-singing I don't feel qualified to comment.
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