Fanfiction Fridays: Barovian Souvenirs by Tracks

Me during the final episode. (via Giphy)

At long last I finished the first season of Dice, Camera, Action!, a D&D webshow much in the vein of others such as The Adventure Zone and Critical Role. The events leading up to the final showdown with the vampire lord Strahd was as about as intense and chaotic as one could expect, yet as the dust settled I found myself wanting more. Yes, there’s another season out—which I started—but something about the way things finished left me seeking out some comfort fic both for the characters and to ease my shaken heart. Luckily, even amidst the seemingly small bounty, fanfic provides.

Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Weaponized Christianity and The Handmaid’s Tale

(image via Erica Grossman’s twitter)

Hulu’s recent adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale couldn’t have hit our screens at a better time. Just as American politicians are “debating” all kinds of controversial healthcare policies (especially women’s reproductive health), we’re treated to a retelling of Atwood’s feminist dystopian classic. Atwood paints a world in which America is overtaken by a radical right-wing fundamentalist Christian sect, forcing women into subservient roles determined by their fertility. It’s the autobiographical story of June, aka Offred, one woman trying to survive life under the new regime. One of the best things about the Hulu adaptation is its determination to bring complexity to a variety of themes in the story. It’d be easy to write off The Handmaid’s Tale as a religious horror story, but it’s so much more than that.

Spoilers for the first three episodes of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Atwood’s novel, plus trigger warnings for mentions of sexual slavery and forced pregnancy below.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Unboxing with Dylan Marron

These days we spend a lot of time talking about abstract concepts like toxic masculinity and rape culture, and whether discussing them in the realm of politics or in a more geeky way as we do on this site, we rarely spend any time defining these terms or arguing with people who say that these concepts aren’t real. Fortunately, for people who want to either understand these concepts a little better or who want real-world examples of how these concepts work, there’s the internet. Today’s web crush is for people who want to laugh and educate themselves on intangible concepts at the same time.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Critical Role

This is it, folks; this is the last Web Crush I will ever write, because I have found the best thing on the internet and possibly the world, and I shall never care about anything else ever again.

… Okay, okay, I’m joking. Just a little bit.

In all seriousness, though, this week I want to share my love for Critical Role, a weekly internet broadcast from Geek & Sundry, which basically shows how a bunch of nerdy voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. The series features some of the most compelling storytelling and some of the best acting I have ever seen, as well as some excellent queer characters. It’s really difficult to speak about this show—this phenomenon, really—without descending into an incoherent blubbering mess whose feelings boil down to “OMG OMG it’s amazing!”, but I shall try.

A couple vague spoilers below.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Vi Hart

There is something you should know about me, dear viewers. I hate math. I mean I really hate math. MadameAce used to kick me repeatedly to try to get me to learn math faster. Math to me is the work of Satan!

Okay, it’s not. Not really. But I do really hate math. It seems really complicated and extremely hard so if someone gets me interested and liking math—you can take that to the bank.

This week’s Web Crush is Youtuber Vi Hart who combines math and art to make math, well… fun!

Since I know very little to nothing about math here’re some of her videos so you can see how awesome and informative she is.

I hope you enjoyed my latest Web Crush and make sure to check out more Vi Hart on youtube.