Sidetracks - December 2, 2016

[helloladies]

Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag.

Clare

➝ This New York Times article on female-focused Star Wars fandom is remarkably nuanced and well-researched for an article that explains what shipping is to you. And also a nice look at the history of female-focused Star Wars fandom through the ages!

➝ Rami Malek might play Freddie Mercury in a biopic? Well, sign me up, sister!

➝ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dropped and I can’t find much enthusiasm in myself for even the concept of it, which is 50% the political climate’s fault and 50% the weird, undead spectre of Harry Potter as a franchise. Alanna Bennett has more.

➝ Okay, also maybe the villains being queer coded doesn’t sit well with me either.

Jodie

➝ Friend of the blog, janesgravity, could use a bit of help right now while she is looking for a new job & trying to care for her ill cat.

➝ The Book Fair for Ballou is back! Help fill a school's library with books that it's students (and it's kickass librarian) actually want. Check out Guys Lit Wire for a reminder of why this book drive is so important & to see how you can help.

➝ Last week, a bunch of UK Twitter users launched onesmallthing, a Twitter account that aims to point people towards one thing they can do each day to help make a better world. A great place to get much needed inspiration.

KJ

➝ Like many folks, I spent a chunk of my Thanksgiving weekend watching the new series of Gilmore Girls. For the most part I enjoyed it, but I had my concerns, and this article sums up my feelings on one of them, around the very ending. Major, major spoilers.

➝ TNT has ordered a pilot for a TV series based on the movie Snowpiercer, which could be a fascinating concept in the right hands. The current hands belong to Josh Friedman, producer of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which I've never seen, so I can't comment on how he might do. Still, I'll keep an eye out.

➝ The podcast Fansplaining recently ran a survey about their listeners' fanfiction preferences, and the results are pretty interesting.

➝ Speaking of podcasts, Another Round guest host Bim Adewunmi recently gave a shout-out to black girls who write fanfic, and shared a beautiful article she wrote on the topic.

Susan

➝ Everything is Awful and I'm Not Okay: questions to ask before giving up: A basic self-care check-list with a focus on minimising harm to yourself, which I have found really useful in the past.

➝ Friend of Lady Business readingtheend has some concrete advice for white people on how to shut down racist shit. This article is long but also has good tips.

➝ The FIve Stages of Trump Grief:

You go to Baba Yaga’s chicken-legged shack on the edge of the forest. “Please,” you say. “Take anything you want. I will make any trade. My free press? My bodily autonomy? My voice? My right to a place at the table?”
Baba Yaga looks at you, confused. “You must trade something you still have.”