Paprika

Hey everyone, so after several months of unofficial and official hiatus and kicking myself for not writing, I've made a resolution. For the next month, I will write something every day. So my poor flist, I apologize in advance for spamming you. I'll try to keep it interesting, I really will! I think I've really needed an excuse to get myself back into the swing of things and I hope this is it.

Today I'd like to do a hodge podge of recommendations!

First up, music that I've been listening to. I got a new computer and while I'm waiting for my external to get fixed, I've had to make due with music that I've gotten from friends.

I can't stop listening to "Fleur de Saison" by Emilie Simon. Emilie Simon is one of my favorite artists--she specializes in experimental music. In fact, she wrote and performed the original soundtrack for the March of the Emperors (that penguin documentary), but they replaced the original music with a more traditional soundtrack for American audiences.

Here's the music video. It's pretty interesting although the ending is a bit weird....





This is possibly the most addictive song that I know : Morningwood's Nth Degree.


I've also been doing a lot of fandom jumping over the past few months. I've gotten a bit into the gossip girl fandom, although mostly it's been within the Blair/Dan shipping.

I have to say that I didn't really see the appeal of Blair and Dan in the beginning of Gossip Girl until Alex pointed out the scene where Dan and Blair have the heart to heart in the hallway during Serena's photoshoot in Season 1.

My favorite set of stories so far is the one set in the wonderful AU by mardia . You can find the first installment here.

Another Blair/Dan story that I really like is this beautifully written piece called All the Little Cuts by cashewdani  about the summer between Junior and Senior Year. It's an introspective piece about the relationship that couldn't really exist between Dan and Blair. I especially like the end, even though I generally dislike angsty endings.

Another fandom that I've gotten into is Iron Man, so another few quick recs for the Tony/Pepper ship.

Human Resources by sienamystic  is wonderful backstory. I love stories that deal with just how Pepper became Tony's personal assistant because their working relationship is a thing of mystery. It's like a well oiled machine, but I have no idea how it became that way.

I also really enjoyed It Takes A Village to Raise Tony Stark by hackthis . Tony's essentially incompetent and sometimes he tries, but sometimes he doesn't even try at all.

I think that's pretty much it for today.....I'm off to finish another episode of How I Met Your Mother (I just finished the episode where Barney and Robin watch her second music video and now I MUST watch the next episode or I will very possibly spontaneously combust.)

Starting off the New Year on a good foot, I just finished Nodame Cantabile, and it's instantly become one of my favorites. Nodame Cantabile follows the adventures of Noda Megumi (Nodame), a talented but sloppy (and crazy) pianist, and Chiaki Shinichi, an arrogant and cold pianist  who dreams of becoming a conductor. Their relationship causes both of them to become better musicans and people as they interact with a variety of eccentric musicans from their school.