寻觅你最明媚的四月天

An assorted list of things I've been reading online:

• How Diversity Makes Us Smarter - Decades of research by organizational scientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and demographers show that socially diverse groups (that is, those with a diversity of race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation) are more innovative than homogeneous groups.
  
  It seems obvious that a group of people with diverse individual expertise would be better than a homogeneous group at solving complex, nonroutine problems. It is less obvious that social diversity should work in the same way—yet the science shows that it does.
  
  This is not only because people with different backgrounds bring new information. Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.



• transposition ciphers - FMA, Roy/Ed, canon AU, dealing with the age gap issues, a few typos, overall a satisfying read.
  
  “I kissed Edward,” Roy said, more quietly than he'd ever spoken to her before. Riza’s raised eyebrows asked a question all on their own.
  
  “Edward … Hertzmann? In signal corps, on the third—”
  
  “Elric.” The surname hung heavy between them like it had hung between so many others before them. “But thank you for trying.”



• All of Riona's FFXXV fic is delightful, but her Prompto in particular is a gem. The voice is perfect.



• Asian Last Names Lead To Fewer Job Interviews, Still - The study found that job applicants in Canada with Asian names — names of Indian, Pakistani or Chinese origin — were 28 percent less likely to get called for an interview compared to applicants with Anglo names, even when all the qualifications were the same.
  
  "Some people still believe that minorities have an advantage," said one of the study authors, Jeffrey Reitz, a sociologist at the University of Toronto. "These studies are important to challenge that and show that not only is this kind of discrimination happening, but it's quite systemic.



• Went through a nostalgic period last month of reading Brioux fic. Always a safe go-to for warm domestic feels.

And books, which will eventually get their own post; it all serves to keep me going day by day as I continue...continuing. Whatever. Sports is happening and occasionally stresses me out. I'm hungry and need a snack. And a drink.

Apropos of nothing I've gone back in time and gotten into some of Miss A's old stuff. "Hush" and "I Don't Need A Man" are great in very different ways, and I'm always impressed by the choreography for "Breathe". And I am super fond of Fei and Jia for their BFFery with Zhou Mi, and that one Running Man ep where Fei was great at cooking. Apparently she's great at cooking in a lot of shows. I love people who are great at cooking. (Victoriaaa! Henry! My Chinaline are So Accomplished.)

I am terrible at watching movies and shows, but so far this season Elementary has remained a delight (and now I have the final two episodes to watch and am hoping against hope Moriarty makes a reappearance). I have fallen off Abnormal Summit (there was a cast change!) and Where is My Friend's Home, mostly because no one is subbing anymore. :( I follow the show on Instagram and it continues to look delightful.

Of movies I have seen and adored Zootopia this year, plus Shakira's theme song for it is ridiculously catchy. I am not a Marvel or superhero fan much but I did go see Deadpool, which was fun and kind of the anti-superhoer movie. I also went to see Batman v. Superman for Jesse Eisenberg...and, well, that movie happened. The trailer for The Lego Batman movie beforehand might have been the best part. I at least enjoyed Jesse on my big screen. And then I came home and looked up Smallville!style Clark/Lex fic for a while.

But there are some things I'm looking forward to this summer: first and foremost, Now You See Me 2, which has a cast of MANY PEOPLE I LOVE and ridiculousness. It will be terrible and I will cherish it.



And then also Finding Dory and Star Trek Beyond! And apparently Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is coming out this November? I will probably go see that. I never quite leave my HP feelings behind, and I am particularly swimming in them now after a visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Reread the books? I'd love to, but my to-read list is so, so long. I will definitely sneak in some fic though. ♥

Fannish things that continue to make me happy: Elementary! Jesse Eisenberg and his face! (And interviews and writings.) Georgette Heyer! My brief tour back through Tim/Kon.

Things which make me sad or upset and that I'm generally avoiding: sports! Because hockey and football deny me happiness, and I used up all my feelings for the Blues. I'm keeping vague tabs on the NBA playoffs now, and I'm looking forward to the World Cup.

I need a break from social media because I can't deal with the sports or the intense Marvel feelings (as I have none and am somewhat sick of Sebastian Stan's face). The other day I reread my own Free! fic and was charmed that my writing wasn't as awful as I remembered it to be! And then I missed writing, but I doubt it will be for Free! again because that fandom's bitter shipwars tainted everything about it that was fun for me.

April dragged on too long and May is passing quicker, but it got too damned hot too fast. I'm also still allergic to the outdoors, thank you, pollen.

I love the excuse to wear dresses and skirts everywhere (fuck pants!) but have consequently also run headlong into more wearisome girl worries: ( Your usual neuroses about other people's opinions. )

Extreme displeasure at Delicious fiasco aside (way to remove every useful feature), I'm really entertained and sort of mistily proud of how quickly and broadly fandom mobilizes. The most popular alternative at the moment seems to be Pinboard, which is ideal in many ways and yet not others, so users have gotten together to make a list things they'd like improved/implemented and a search function/directory to keep track of Delicious→Pinboard users. Delicious promises in its blog that it's retained all our old information (tag bundles, subscriptions, networks, etc.) and will eventually be making them public and usable again, but who knows? It's hard not to regard them with a fair amount of suspicion, I feel.

I was meiface@Delicious and am meitachi@Pinboard. Drop me a comment to let me know who you are!

In other news, Amazon's released two new touch Kindles for $149 and $99, and the cheapest of all Kindles for $79, which is tiny and lightweight (no keyboard), but not touch. I guess I'm glad I put off buying an e-reader earlier, but I have to admit I'm still inclined towards the Nook until I hear more user reviews on the new touch Kindles. (I retain my reservations about Kindle refusing to read epubs though.)

Things I've been doing recently aside from job-hunting: crushing on Puck from Glee even though I don't watch the show (Mark Salling is hot, okay, shirtless and also while singing Sweet Caroline); taking small but concrete steps towards moving to DC; getting all sorts of medical-type appointments through with so I can lay to rest my eternal paranoid fears of CANCER, ALWAYS CANCER, YOU WILL DIEEEE; watching assorted shows (MLP:FiM Season 2! H50 Season 2! The end of Khuntoria! Need to catch up with Top Chef!); and reading lots of Agatha Christie and Pterry.

Also, investigating in depth the MBTI personality types, mostly for fun. I am INFJ always and forever, and the type I'm drawn to crushing on are ESFPs (even though the ones I've dated have been more ISTJ/ISTP - but look how those turned out so great). ESFPs probably attract me because they're everything I'm not but wish I could be, but still allow me to feel some sort of human connection to them due to the F. Yes, we have so many feelings~ (Most of my closest friends are Ts. They don't get all this feelings crap. ;;) I don't know that I could do long-term with them, but I have commitment issues anyway!

GUESS WHOSE BIRTHDAY IT IS.

Here's a hint: for a birthday present, we should totally get him this. Or this.

Yes, yes, the answer is (da da daaan) TOM HARDY. And because I steal all my pictures of T-Hard from tumblr anyway, all y'all (hahaha look I'm using it!) should just go look for yourself.

I think for his birthday, people should write me filthy T-Hard/JGL porn. Y/Y? I mean, it's like the gift that keeps on giving...

Anyway! Obligatory celebration out of the way (...I totally didn't know it was his birthday until cherrybina, er, absolutely did not make a post and absolutely did not mention it), let's talk about other things.

( Random, unrelated thoughts! )

Here, have a few quick Inception recs:

(1) University Arthur/Eames AU series by onelittlesleep. I don't really know how to describe it except that it's different from every other college AU out there and it's utterly delicious. Ridiculously hot, a darker edge than most, and just -- a really nice change of stylistic pace from all the other A/E I've been reading. Lots of sex, some drama and angst, mostly just incredibly wonderful.

(2) Cuddling fics: Pre-deprivation by withlightning, where Arthur is the world's most cuddly sleeper, sort of by accident. And The Big Sleep by jibrailis, where Arthur is a flaily and violent sleeper but Eames discovers just how to soothe him.

It's true: there is no such thing as too many cuddling fics in this fandom. I will never tire of them!

So...you should totally tell me one fandom trope/cliché that you never tire of (assuming done well; always assuming written well!): High school AUs? Hooker AUs? Arranged marriage? Pretend boyfriends? Mistaken identity? accident leading to amnesia a la Korean dramas? Celebrity meets normal guy/girl a la Notting Hill? Coffeeshop AUs?

No kinks this time, just tropes! TELL ME YOUR SHAMEFUL FEEL-GOOD LOVES.