Stuff I love challenge in February

I followed a link over to dreamersdare who has created a February 'Stuff I love' challenge to remind us--in this darkest part of the year--that there are still things to enjoy.

And how does this challenge work?

Each week in February, you are challenged to write a themed top ten list, with a focus on different aspects of media.

Week 1 (February 1st-7th): Standalone media (e.g. films, novels, short stories, plays) Week 2 (February 8th-14th): Series (e.g. TV shows, webtoons, comics, web serials) Week 3 (February 15th-21st): Music picks (e.g. bands, artists, songs, music videos) Week 4 (February 22nd-28th): Relationships in our media (e.g. platonic, shippy, familial, canon, fannish)

As it's the 5th of February today, I have a list of standalone media, not listed in order of importance because largely they are all equal in my estimation:

1. Bladerunner (the original and best.) So atmospheric and dreamy. Went into it expecting to love Harrison Ford's character (because Han Solo was the best,) came out of it with a new blorbo in the shape of Roy Batty, and a new background for the next five years of my life in the shape of that Vangelis music.

2. Oh blimey, speaking of plays, there was one play that became a hyperfixation for me before I knew the term hyperfixation, and that was an adaptation of Riddley Walker which was on at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester when I was a student there. I absolutely adored the made-up futuristic dialog of the play--which is set in a post-apocalyptic England that has reverted to savagery. Just gorgeous language - I mean choppy, brutalist, but so new and vital. I would love to see it again some time.

3. Speaking of old, pre-fandom blorbos, I loved Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence largely because in those days (1980s and before) it was vanishingly rare to get any queer content, and MCML was about the obsessive/destructive attraction between a captive in a Japanese POW camp (played by David Bowie) and his captor (played by Riuichi Sakamoto.) There was lots of yearning! But there was also an amazing soundtrack by Riuichi Sakamoto's band the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and that was another big part of the soundscape of my youth.

4. Murderbot--All Systems Red. Enough said. Actually no, I do have something to say. I didn't know there was a word for what I was (asexual/agender/aromantic) until I was in my mid 40s. I had never seen or even conceived of anyone like myself, and I fixated hard on robots and also on other queer people. I recognized my community without knowing why I belonged there. Murderbot combines my love of robots with a character who actually gets what it's like to prefer to be what you are. It is the ace representation I didn't know I needed.

5. Stargate (the movie.) Ancient Egyptians in space? What more do you need. I have a strong love for things that are alien to my own experience, so obviously I was primed to love the villains in this, and that was only cemented by the fact that Ra was so beautiful, Anubis was so handsome, and they had that (Hollywood thinks it's villainous) homoerotic tension between them. Chef's kiss.

6. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin. I'm sure I've talked about this one before. Gorgeous language. Representation of a whole planet where the people are asexual like 90% of the time. Obviously the narrator thinks this is weird, but Genly Ai is a moron, and Therem Harth Rem ir Estraven was a childhood blorbo who I still hug to my heart today.

7. Pirates of the Caribbean (the first movie only.) The movie that launched a thousand fics, and accidentally also launched my professional writing career. I deeply loved Commodore Norrington and as a result I began to research the Age of Sail in 18th Century England. And as a result of that I wrote my first book and got it published. The later movies spoiled this franchise for me but I owe it so much.

8. Lord of the Rings (the book.) Shaped my life. Taught me my morality. Formed my writerly voice and taught me how to describe things. I can't over-emphasise how much this is a load bearing pillar of my personality.

9. The Time Bandits. Another one from my youth. Some of God's dwarven helpers steal the map to all the holes in creation and use them to travel in time stealing valuable things. By accident they also drag a young boy from his bedroom and drag him through time and mythology in a series of whacky adventures. Apart from the truly amazing best giant ever, the thing that stuck with me with this one was the depiction of ancient Greece, which turned it back into a proper ancient culture to me, as opposed to the usual Hollywood depictions.

10. Forerunner Foray by Andre Norton I mentioned my enchantment with things that are alien to me, and this is so alien. It was formative in shaping what I hope for from science fiction, even though what it actually deals with is being possessed by ancient things and cultures. I just love the weird things.