Sarcasm is an adjusted stress reaction.

For day 3 of womenlovefest.  I was briefly tempted to save the art recs post until after I had posted my own sketches, so as to avoid unflattering comparisons, but then I realised I was kidding myself. 

So!  One of the things that I love best about Avatar fandom is how it is exploding with talented fan artists.  You have people dedicated to reproducing the style of the show (and it really is weird and uncanny and amazing to have a fandom where, in fact, fan-created stuff can be eerily indistinguishable from the real thing), and people who bring their own style and create something new and delightful in the way it remixes the familiar.

So with that in mind, here's a dozen or so links to my favourite pieces of Mai art.  Which is not remotely exhaustive (and I tried to steer clear of some of the more obvious choices, but then I realised I didn't even know what the obvious choices were, and how could I leave out missbennet's realistic portraits, or ignore aliwildgoose?) but if you're new to Mai art, I hope it serves as an introduction.

All are worksafe (although "Weapon of Choice" features underwear), although, this being Mai, you can pretty much assume images of sharp, pointy things are a given.

Lady Mai by Fuienu-chan

How Sokka Saw It by swan-swan

Mai's Hidden Knives by daskirtz

Mai by Ketoprak (at first I almost missed what the artist did with the leaves here.  And then I exploded with envy that I don't have the skill to do the same thing.)

Portrait of Zuko and Mai by missbennet

Avatar - Mai by NorthernBanshee

Maiko - Weapon of Choice redux by AliWildgoose

The Female of the Species by xcgirl08

So It Goes by N3L (this may be the closest thing in the world to Aang/Mai fan art!)

Can I help you? by swan-swan

Fire Nation Gothic by Booter-Freak

First there was Festivids, and now there's halfamoon the white_lotus Lunar New Year Fest, which means there have been a whole lot of really great vids that need reccing.

So! First up, festivids!

Clue

Another One Bites the Dust by [ANON]. There is a warning for comedic violence, and the summary is, "Flames. Flames on the side of my face." And I was sold.

Joseon X-Files

Illumination by [ANON]. Joseon X-Files is a Korean sci-fi historical drama, about UFOs and aliens in 17th century Korea and the Handsome And Honest Magistrate And Mysterious And Beautiful Lady Steampunk Engineer/Bad-Ass Bookshop Owner who investigate them. This vid is gorgeous and haunting, making use of the series' high production values, and successfully persuaded the House o'Squid to watch the series. (There's a summary/review of the first episode here if you're curious.)

Mad Men

Let It Be by [ANON]. Tracing Don and Peggy's relationship, and their personal and professional journeys.

halfamoon!

Multifandom

Tightrope by such_heights. Every year, halfamoon throws up a couple of multi-fandom vids about female characters, and I eat them up like a spoon. (I think there are fandoms for which my entire knowledge comes from these vids.) This is one.

She's a Rebel by kaydeefalls. This is another!

They both have, like, snappy cutting and stuff. Vidders love snappy cutting and stuff.

It's been a long day.

white_lotus

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Watershed by [ANON]. I've been thinking about this vid all freaking day. It's maybe a little heavier on the talky face than I like, but that kind of doesn't matter, because the song is so very, eerily perfect.

1. This is the greatest fic ever: "Within Two Infinities".  A Gallifrey AU inspired by In the Thick of It, which is to say, Narvin is the communications director for the Prime Minister, the Daily Male is saying that she's elitist and cold, which is technically true, but they do want to keep their jobs, and also Braxiatel is the Chancellor, and that can't possibly be good.

A sample:

"Hilarious," Irving said with a distinct lack of hilarity in his voice. "I notice you lack siblings to make sexual remarks about. I assume you killed them."

"In my defence, they were my Mars Bars. And since when are you the poster-boy for the benefits of siblings? What you call a brother, I call an overgrown man-child who's just shy of autism and yet somehow still manages to to charm a distressing amount of the other sex. And some of the same ones too. Dark and mysterious my wank. If he was my brother, I would kill him for a Mars Bar."

"How... noble of you, Narvin. I was under the assumption that you usually don't need a reason."

2. sajee and melwil, you both need to read A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce. It's a YA retelling of a fairy tale, specifically Rumpelstiltskin. Which is my all-time least favourite fairy tale ever, and fortunately the author feels the same way. It's set in a world in the early stages of an industrial revolution, with a young women faced with a failing mill, a mortgage, corporate sabotage, and a helpful stranger offering the solution to all her problems ... for a very small, very reasonable price.

3. melwil, as I've been meaning to tell you since I was in Brisbane, your students need to read the following books by Megan Whalen Turner: The Thief, Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia. There is also a fourth in the series, A Conspiracy of Kings, but my copy hasn't arrived yet.

It's middle-grade fantasy set in a world heavily based on Classical and Byzantine Greece, although in this case, the culture and religion have persisted long enough to develop firearms.  It has a lot of adventure, strong male and female characters, a dash of romance, and some amazing plotting.  YOU SHOULD READ IT.  WHY HAVEN'T YOU READ IT YET?  HURRY UP AND GO READ IT!

4. Speaking of books, yesterday turned out to be my last day at Borders. This was slightly unexpected; I'd been under the impression that they needed me for a few more weeks, and I misheard a voicemail from one of the managers. So it was a bit strange. I'm having a farewell drinks on Thursday night, and hoping that people will actually turn up.

5. This is how I celebrated my last day there:

6.  But I can't read them yet; I'm still only halfway through Connie Willis's Blackout.  It's both awesome and frustrating, in that (very early in) there's an error about Lady Jane Grey's age at the time of her deat that, with an author I didn't know and like, would have had me wondering whether or not to continue.  And I strongly suspect there are some geographical problems re: getting around London, and the characters all seem to live in a world without mobile communications (by which I don't mean the Blitz).  But other than those niggles, I'm really enjoying it, and am almost looking forward to doing my laundry, with the opportunity it will give me for reading.