What media do you revisit?

[petra]

What do you reread, rewatch, or relisten to in times of stress?

Comments

[petra]

When I was a kid and I stayed home from school, I'd read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Now I'm more likely to reread Lois McMaster Bujold if I want an escape -- space opera comforts my soul.

When I had a long stretch of indoor time last year, I indulged in all the lengthy Harry Potter AUs I could stomach.

[duskpeterson]

Pretty much any book that I read during my childhood. Right now I'm rereading Sue Barton, which seems appropriate.

[starshipfox]

Recently I did a reread of The Lord of the Rings, which was a great distraction. I generally rewatch sitcoms to deal with acute stress: Brooklyn Nine Nine, Community, Upstart Crow and Jam and Jerusalem are all favourites. I'm also watching Star Trek Next Gen one randoms episode at a time. QI is another fave for me to rewatch -- it seems to work as a distraction no matter what, even though sometimes I'm frustrated by the guests on it.

I've been trying to watch new shows, but find myself kind of resistant -- I think it must be too stressful atm.

[hannah]

The National is getting a lot of play in my apartment right now.

[cynthia1960]

Pride and Prejudice along with lots of JAFF. Ursula K Le Guin.

[caiusmajor]

Diana Wynne Jones!

...actually I should go do that and stop trying to listen to the Chanur series. I love them but it's not a great time for exhaustion and endless politics.

[petra]

Yes, Sue Barton looks entirely apropos. Good choice!

[petra]

Considering how much I liked the first three sitcoms on your list, I'll have to try Jam and Jerusalem when I can deal with new-to-me media. I've been having trouble watching anything lately--I need to be doing something, and watching TV doesn't apparently count.

[petra]

I hope you find it to be the balm your soul needs.

[petra]

Is "JAFF" short for "Jane Austen Fan Fiction"? Definitely a good choice, along with the Le Guin.

[petra]

Ooo, great suggestion. When I finish the Harry Potter epic I'm in the middle of, I could really go for some DWJ.

[hannah]

"Everybody's got nowhere to go/everybody wants to be amazing" from 'Rylan' pretty well sums up the day.

[sulien]

Tolkien's Middle Earth legendarium is my comfort reading for sure. For comfort watching, I love the Mummy series of movies, Stargate (movie, SG-1 and Atlantis), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Starsky & Hutch (tv series), Star Trek (up through Voyager, I don't care for the more recent stuff). For listening, I destress with the New Age, Folk and Classical music genres (Rock is for getting a move on and Heavy Metal is for blowing off steam).

[starshipfox]

I do recommend it whenever you feel up for it! <3 It's a very cosy show. I definitely have similar feelings though -- it's really hard to focus on TV right now.

[cynthia1960]

Yup. My vice is P&P adaptations and continuations. Some are very good. Never quite like the Divine Miss Austen, but then, who is?

[cynthia1960]

Haven't done a Middle Earth binge yet this year. I have just about everything his son Christopher had gotten out of JRRT's stash I'm pretty sure.

[petra]

That sounds like a cozy group of choices. Enjoy your Middle Earth and your mostly-90's TV.

I like that you have different genres of music for different moods. It's not how my brain works, but it makes more sense than my brain's "This is our music for the next N weeks. Enjoy!" approach to the world.

[althea_valara]

Lately I have Connie Willis on the mind, because one of her books is about a pandemic. I do NOT recommend reading it right now, it's a hard read at the best of times.

But she has another book that is great fun. To Say Nothing of the Dog is quite funny, and I've read it when I needed something easy and silly. I've been thinking of reading it again.

As for listening: I have a playlist of calming songs that comes to mind right now.

[petra]

It's frustrating, because being in my head isn't doing me any good and I would very much like to be out of it, but when I try my brain skips off of the possibility of distraction. Brains, why they gotta be like this?

[petra]

That it does, that it does.

[sulien]

Tolkien's works are very good for pulling you in and keeping you there for a while. :)

[petra]

No, this would not be a good time to reread The Doomsday Book. I remember crying through a solid third of that one when I wasn't in any danger of plague; I can't imagine facing it now.

To Say Nothing Of The Dog sounds like just the kind of farce the world needs at the moment.

Thank you for bringing your playlist! All the music is unfamiliar to me and I look forward to giving it a try.

[sulien]

The Chanur series is excellent, but you're right about it not being light reading. I don't know how you're liking the audio books, but I found the reader's voice grating and couldn't fall into the story despite the fact that they're some of my favorite books (it probably didn't help that I'd always heard Whoopi Goldberg's voice in my mind for Pyanfar).

[caiusmajor]

Yeah, I've been struggling more with the audiobooks than I remember doing reading them on paper. I don't dislike the reader for any particular reason, but it's not a great performance (and makes distinguishing Kif With Similar Names even harder than usual).

[desireearmfeldt]

To Say Nothing Of The Dog is a) fluffy farcical fun, and b) probably Willis's best book. In my ever do humble opinion. :)