Luzula

1) I turned in both my due South/C6D Big Bang drafts in on time! The podfic is completely finished; the fic about 95% done. Woohoo! And I thought I wouldn't actually be able to write a Big Bang this year.

2) I cut down on my tag wrangling, finally managing to completely let go of the Tolkien fandoms. Which I should've done long ago, really--I have very little investment in the fanfiction fandom for it; I just picked it up years ago as a new wrangler because I know the canon well. Still wrangling due South, a fair amount of C6D, Generation Kill, etc.

3) Last week seascribe and I, in our continuing fandom-of-two for Steve McQueen, watched The Great Escape from 1963. It was...kind of weird? It's basically about Allied prisoners escaping from a Nazi POW camp, but there was a strange sort of boy scout feeling about it. Like, the Nazis are all "oh, you naughty prisoners, are you trying to escape again!" with cheerful music in the background. Neither of us really got into it as a movie, so we ended up just being shallow and objectifying Steve McQueen. Also, we'd heard there was a scene where he rode a motorcycle through a window a la Ray Kowalski in Easy Money, but this did not actually happen, although there was another motorcycle scene. Anyway, it was such a contrast to Papillon, where I really got invested in the story and characters.

The Warrior's Path, by Catherine M. Wilson (first in a trilogy)

This is sort of a fantasy story (but without magic) about a young girl training as a warrior--and now you're probably picturing something along the lines of Tamora Pierce, but no, this is more domestic and down-to-earth. I thought it would push my buttons, being as it's all about a mentor relationship between two women, but sadly, no. The writing just didn't work for me--it's not like it was bad, but I didn't feel it. Too much telling and not enough showing, maybe? Anyway, if you'd like to try it out, you can download it as a free ebook here.

Across Time and Tundra: the Inuvialuit of the Western Arctic, by Ishmael Alunik, Eddie Kolausok and David Morrison

I read this as due South-related research, and wow, was it worth it! I recommend it to everyone writing dS fic set in the Mackenzie delta area (or, you know, if you otherwise have an interest in these things). It's a really good historical overview of the area and the people living there.

I have also watched Bullitt with seascribe and ardyforshort, which was a lot of fun. Check out ardyforshort's gifs of Steve McQueen!

Fic-wise, I have enjoyed Ione's long story Rest and Be Thankful, despite knowing neither of the fandoms involved. Basically, it's about a young woman who sees figures from the past, helping to solve an old family mystery. In fact, I can recommend the author's work in general--Ione has written some really excellent Aubrey/Maturin and Austen fic.