More Marvel

In case anyone is wondering, I‘m still watching Legion, and I do have thoughts, but any review will have to wait until I see the resolution, because my opinion very much depends on what the show does with the various issues it has raised.

Meanwhile, browsing through MCU fanfiction reminded me again of the downside that comes with a juggernaut fandom - to wit, there is so much that it‘s easy to miss the gems among all the dross. Also, inevitably there‘s a lot where independent from quality of writing it‘s just not for me because I disagree with some key characterisations, and/or the tropes it uses might be fun for the writer but not yours truly. The tagging system does work as an early warning and thus comes in useful, as in: I avoid anything with „X needs a hug“, „y is a good bro“, or „Zs A+ parenting“. Words like „smol“ or „precious“ are also good signals to look elsewhere.

Otoh, rewatching some of the movies reminds me why I‘m so fond of the MCU to begin with. Not that any of them are perfect, but for starters, their way of balancing flaws and virtues of characters feels more interesting to me than many a fanfic where everyone is either „the best“ or „the worst“ and one joke or complaint in canon is endlessly repeated. (I first noticed this back in ye olde Highlander days where Methos helping himself to a beer from Duncan‘s fridge once or twice became Methos not drinking anything else, to use one of the more harmless examples.) But of course MCU canon leaves me with itches to be scratched as well, otherwise I wouldn‘t look for fanfiction to begin with. Two results of these expeditions:

Avengers:
Making Lemonade

I was very annoyed indeed with one particular scene in Infinity War, featuring Rhodey and dealing (or not) with the Civil War fallout, so this Rhodey pov story perfectly scratched that particular itch. Because... yes. That.

Refugee Road

An intense Bruce Banner character study, incorporating some comics canon into the MCU, and co-starring Tony Stark.

Book Meme, day 6

6. The one I always give as a gift.

My first impulse is to say that there is no such thing. Because I regard books as highly subjective and individual gifts. You have to at least have some idea of the taste of the person you're giving the book to, and thus it really varies.

This said, here are two books I've chosen as presents repeatedly:

Tausend Peitschenhiebe: Weil ich sage, was ich denke", which is a collection of Raif Badawi's blog entries translated from Arabic into German. I think there's an English translation, too, by now. Raif Badawi is the blogger from Saudi-Arabia condemned to a thousand lashes, and while this story went around the world, few people knew what he'd actually written, due to lack of familiarity with his language. This collection set out to remedy this somewhat (and also to help providing his wife with something of an income), which is why I both bought it and handed it out as a present.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie, which is still my favorite of his novels. It's one of those books for children which work for any age. I first came across it via a library loan and was so charmed I immediately bought it, and presented it to various younger and older friends.

( The other days )