Wednesday reading

Jun. 11th, 2025 11:47 pm
redbird: full bookshelves and table in a library (books)
[personal profile] redbird

Last week:

*Cattitude read Blue Moose, by Daniel Pinkwater, aloud to us, because it's one of his favorites and Adrian had never read it. I've reread the book several times, and was happy to hear it out loud.

*I read Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil, by Oliver Darkshire. Decidedly weird, funny fantasy. A lot of the humor is in the footnotes, which seem to be at least a quarter of the text. Also, the title does in fact describe the book. Isabella lives in a poor, out-of-the-way village, whose wizard keeps the local goblin market in check, until one day he doesn't. The goblins sell one thing, unnaturally tempting and dangerous fruit.

*Did not finish: Girls Against God, by Jenny Hval. I don't remember where I saw this recommended, and just couldn't get into it.

Currently reading:

*Installment Immortality, by Seanan McGuire, the latest book in her InCryptid series. I started it late last night, and only read a few pages before turning the light out.

*Twelve Trees, by Daniel Lewis, nonfiction about trees and climate change. I picked this up at the libraru, as a "book with a green caover" for the summer reading challenge.

holmesticemods: (Default)
[personal profile] holmesticemods posting in [community profile] holmestice
Title: A Walk in Hirosaki
Recipient: gardnerhill
Artist: REDACTED
Verse: Miss Sherlock
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock & Wato
Rating: g
Warnings: none
Summary: Inspired by gardnerhill's fic Hana Yori Dango

View on AO3: A Walk in Hirosaki
musesfool: being hung over is like winning the lottery, except they pay you in regret! (paid in regret)
[personal profile] musesfool
ZOMG what a day!!!

I was in a training this morning when around 10:30 am, my internet went out and didn't come back in 30 seconds the way it usually does. And my cable was out also. But Spectrum said there was no outage in my area, so it was a me problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And so I was in the middle of texting with a Spectrum chatbot (or maybe it was a real person?) when the cleaning ladies showed up but the bell wasn't working and then they called me and I didn't respond because I was in the middle of chatting with Spectrum (doing all the things I had already done, i.e., unplugging and re-plugging in the modem and router) with no success, but luckily I realized who was calling so I went and opened the door and they began their work and I went back to chatting with Spectrum.

The CSR/bot told me they would schedule the next open appointment and I was like sure, while thinking, "am I going to have to into the office for my meetings tomorrow? I need to be here when the tech comes but it probably won't be until Friday or Monday?" and then they texted me the appointment and it was for TODAY at NOON so of course I was like, YES, I WILL. TAKE IT. And then he showed up at 11:55 am!!! And told me there was a major outage in my area, so it was unlikely that he could do anything, but I was getting texts saying that the outage should be fixed by 1 pm. No, we mean 1:30 pm. No, we mean 2 pm. (It came back for me around 1 pm.) And finally at 4:05 pm a text saying the outage was over.

Meanwhile, yesterday, we were supposed to be sending materials out for a meeting tomorrow, but I hadn't received them by 5 pm yesterday, and I hadn't received them by 9 am this morning, and while I was in training and then offline, my boss was poking the CFO who was like, "we don't have them, should we cancel?" so my boss was texting me like, "We should cancel!!!" and I was like, that's fine but we can't reschedule for next week since the board members are not available, and then the board meeting is the week after, so we would need to get approval by unanimous written consent. But then the CFO is like, "I'm calling you!" and I'm like, "I have no internet, I can't get into any files, please don't!" But she was already calling, so I spoke with her and she was like, "We got the documents! I'm reviewing them! I will let you know when it's ok to send!" and I was like ok.

A little while after that, my service had returned and I discovered another committee member had sent out an invite to a meeting on Friday with incorrect information while trying to accept the correct invite for Friday's meeting? I don't even know, but it didn't replace the correct invite on anyone's calendars, so I just declined it. Then she emailed saying she was now getting all these RSVPs and I was like, "can you cancel it? It shouldn't affect the correct invitation, which I will then forward to you." So she cancelled it, but it looked to other people like the meeting was cancelled, even though the correct invitation remained on their calendars. So I had to send a teams message internally and an email externally to explain to everyone that the meeting was not cancelled, it was just a technological glitch of some sort. Idek.

I ate breakfast after the cable guy left, so I didn't eat lunch, and at around 3:30 I was like, "the CFO still hasn't given me the go-ahead to send this out - they are going to complain about getting a complicated set of documents less than 24 hours ahead of the meeting!" to my boss and then the email telling me the materials were good to go dropped into my inbox, so I was able to send them out.

Then while I was trying to catch up on email, a nasty looking bee (hornet? wasp?) started hovering around my window, and as you may recall, I had problems with them somehow getting into my apartment last summer, so I immediately slammed down the window and put the AC on, even though it was comfortable enough with the fan with the window open. I appreciate bees, but not in my living room! Especially not ones that look mean.

And then I read that Brian Wilson died. And Sly Stone died earlier this week. And I thought that was sad. #legends only #RIP

*

Me-and-media update

Jun. 12th, 2025 10:40 am
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the hair, there, and everywhair poll, 78% of respondents said they air dry, 35.6% towel dry roughly, 30.5% towel dry carefully / squeezingly, and 22% use a hair dryer or other device. (I towel dry carefully / squeezingly, then air dry. But I have thick, slow-drying hair, and I can’t sleep with it wet, so I use a hair dryer occasionally.)

In ticky-boxes, “a yawning cat broadcasting calm and satisfaction into the world” beat hugs, 71.2% to 67.8%! The power of toxiplasmosis cats on the internet! Thirty-six point two percent of respondents agreed that other people are, generally speaking, quite mysterious. Thank you for your votes!

Reading
The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain) -- Welsh children’s fantasy, and the first book in the trilogy that Disney’s The Black Cauldron is loosely based on. I’m not far into this yet, I haven’t read it before, and I've misplaced my kindle. But it starts well.

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers, narrated by Robert Bathurst -- This ripped along very engagingly. I like that Whimsy isn’t falling over bodies left, right and centre à la Jessica Fletcher; he has to actually seek out cases, and I appreciated his sporting enthusiasm at the outset, and also that he feels it when his actions have consequences. Also, I loved the spinster assistant, Katharine Climpson -- I hope for more of her. (And I just spoiled myself for that on wikipedia, oops, but anyway, good to know she’ll be back.) Is it the Bellona Club next, or am I missing one?

Guardian by priest -- The readalong continues, along with its sixty million comments each week. :D

Argh, I got distracted and still haven’t finished or commented on the rest of the 520 Day collection. Note to self!!

Kdramas
Nada.

Other TV
Department Q -- We finished off the 9-episode season earlier this week. It’s rather messy (not all the mysteries and loose ends get tied up), and there are a few different flavours of police violence (messed-up cop losing control; very controlled cop “extracting” information; but not group or institutionalised/authorised violence that I recall), as well as the bad guys torturing the victim. If the season had been longer, I might have bailed. But it is very compelling, and Morck (Matthew Goode) is extremely watchable.

Doctor Who -- I think I’m just not the target audience for RTD’s style of story-telling. I’m really going to miss Gatwa on my screen, though.

Stick -- the first episode of Owen Wilson’s new Apple+ golf dramedy. It was okay. Good cast, but the problem with a show about golf is the lack of ~team~. I’m reserving judgement.

El Eternauta -- we’ve finished episode 2 now. It’s fascinatingly creepy. Has a pretty bleak view of human nature, but I’m intrigued to see where it goes. (I was advised to start it with as few spoilers as possible, so I know nothing. Please don’t tell me anything!)

Also, more Murderbot, Poker Face, and Turning Point: The Vietnam War.

Guardian/Fandom
Mostly I’ve just been doing the Guardian novel readalong, the Guardian drama polls, and allllll the discussion that goes along with them. ♥ ♥ ♥

Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, and several episodes of Coherent, a podcast focusing on our Deputy Prime Minister's move to set up a sort-of equivalent of DOGE and turn us into a libertarian hellhole. Gah! (Locals, submissions on the Regulatory Standards Bill close on 1pm, Monday 23rd June.)

Writing/making things
Plugging away. Yesterday I posted a flashfic that I started in March last year. The first draft didn’t work and was wildly misguided (thanks to my beta for helping me realise that!), but I dusted it off and rebuilt it over the weekend, and I like how it turned out. I have a couple of other things in the works, too, and one day I’ll actually finish this ridiculous 13k-so-far gen fic. At least I’ve worked out why it was losing momentum, to wit, the longer a “missing scene” is, the more it needs to have its own build and climax, rather than relying on canon or narrative irony for the payoff. Unfortunately, the upshot of that is that I need an actual plot development.

I spent Monday’s writers’ hour looking for two story titles, and came up with one I really liked that doesn’t fit either fic. So I guess I also need to write a story to fit that title.

Life/health/mental state things
Optometrist and GP (for a laundry list of minor questions) this week. Both went fine. The weather is bitterly cold. I’ve been a bit headachy, but I’m mostly putting that down to needing new glasses.

Goals
Huh. I wonder if I should make some.

Link dump
Operation Spiderweb (wikipedia link; Ukraine’s strategic drone strike on Russia’s air capability) | From cat urine to gunpowder: Exploring the peculiar smells of outer space | Dynasty's Gay Journey - Killer Dads, Shoulderpads, and the Kiss that Rocked Hollywood (Youtube, 33:25, via a comment at [community profile] tv_talk). I have too many tabs open to rootle out more right now.

Good things
Writing. Writers’ hour. Beta. Guaaaardian. Chocolate. Cat. Andrew.

Poll #33240 The Tower
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 43


What kind of princess is in the tower?

View Answers

goblin princess
10 (23.3%)

elf princess
8 (18.6%)

vampire princess
6 (14.0%)

mermaid princess
4 (9.3%)

minotaur princess
14 (32.6%)

dragon princess
21 (48.8%)

troll princess
4 (9.3%)

orc princess
6 (14.0%)

cat
27 (62.8%)

other
4 (9.3%)

actually it's another-gendered member of royalty
16 (37.2%)

ticky-box full of intending to bake but not getting around to it
19 (44.2%)

ticky-box full of still resisting multi-focal lenses
7 (16.3%)

ticky-box of a squadron of rescue dragons who can exhale fire or water, as required
27 (62.8%)

ticky-box of clumsy fledgling puppies, tumbling all over each other out of the nest
20 (46.5%)

ticky-box of spoiler fairies leaving them under your pillow
12 (27.9%)

ticky-box full of hugs
29 (67.4%)

pauraque: Guybrush writing in his journal adrift on the sea in a bumper car (monkey island adrift)
[personal profile] pauraque
I learned a few days ago that the Latin American Games Showcase is happening this week. This is very relevant to my interests, so I downloaded some demos. Too many demos, really, so I'm going to break my thoughts into two posts.

⭐ I want to play this.
❓ Maybe someday if it's on sale or if issues are fixed by release.
🚫 Not for me.

⚒️ Unreleased/early access.


⭐⚒️ Oscuro: Blossom's Glow (puzzle platformer - Hongoneon, Costa Rica )

⭐⚒️ PancitoMerge (Suika-like puzzle - Fáyer, Mexico )

I Did Not Buy This Ticket (surreal horror visual novel - Tiago Rech, Brazil )

Adore (creature-collecting ARPG - Cadabra Games, Brazil )

❓⚒️ Beacon of Neyda - Ghost Creative Studio, Uruguay )

🚫 The End is Nahual (variety puzzles - Third World Productions, Mexico )

🚫 Alexandria IV (sci-fi visual novel - J.M. Beraldo, Brazil )

🚫 Dreamcore ('liminal space' walking sim - Montraluz, Argentina )
holmesticemods: (Default)
[personal profile] holmesticemods posting in [community profile] holmestice
Title: Knives and Necklaces
Recipient: armchair_elvis
Author: REDACTED
Verse: Granada TV Show
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson
Rating: Suitable for General Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings
Summary: After Holmes is injured on a case, Watson tends to the injury and reflects on the events of the case.

Read On AO3: Knives and Necklaces

a sanctuary safe and strong

Jun. 11th, 2025 05:01 pm
pensnest: yellow/brown orchid, close up, looks like a little creature (floral orchid alien)
[personal profile] pensnest
I did the cardio/toning class on Monday, and ventured back to Tough Yoga yesterday morning. I did everything (mostly on easy mode, but hey), and after lunch I was so exhausted I fell asleep.

My arms and inner thighs are still muttering at me, but today, I did useful work in the garden for a couple of hours. Something—I assume very hungry caterpillars—having eaten my lovingly cultivated kale and cauliflower plants, I bought defenses for them, and have planted the three extra kale plants I grew originally, plus seeds for kale, broccoli and Everlasting Spinach (we shall see), and the four eight ten red cabbage plants I picked up at the garden centre when purchasing the hoops and nets. Also a copious amount of hoeing, outright weeding, and put a couple more attempts at mange touts into the ground. There have been half a dozen or so peas on the m-t plants, but this is not a useful quantity.

Tonight, I go to the first evening of Drawing class!

Two Boats and a Helicopter

Jun. 11th, 2025 11:00 am
pennswoods: (Default)
[personal profile] pennswoods
The story about God sending two boats and a helicopter to save a man during a flood is one I one I heard a lot growing up is on my mind today. 

A friend from Dublin reached out with information from his uni called the Global Talent Program designed to target the recruitment of outstanding international researchers in areas including digital technologies and AI (which is a possible fit for my research). He asked if my husband and I had ever considered moving to Ireland...

I shared that I had thought about moving back to Sweden but I know that will be a struggle and perhaps there are no jobs for me and my husband. And also that I don't think my husband would flourish outside the US. He is happy here - despite the growing authoritarianism. He hasn't given up on the US and wants to stay and fight and support the systems that are here. I told my friend that if I were a younger scholar in an earlier stage of my career and if I had children, I might feel different. Right now I feel that there is not enough life left ahead of me to make this move worthwhile (in many parts of Europe I would only be able to work a maximum of 12-14 more years before mandatory retirement) and I don't know if I feel right taking an job away from a younger or more local person who has not had the opportunities in life that I have already had. 

He understood and told me to let him know if I knew of any colleagues where making a move would make sense. If that includes any of you, let me know (this is Trinity College, btw). 





Anyway, I'm not sure if this is one of the boats or helicopters that I am going to regret not taking or if I am just wallowing in doomerism.
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
As always, Evil!Janeway is hot, though less so than the Living Witness version. It's the eyes - our main characters all have huge eyes, so the somewhat more realistically animated adult human characters look slightly uncanny valley, even though their eyes ought to make sense.

Also, damn, Chakotay has got some arms! Is this true IRL? I don't remember ever seeing the live actor ever without sleeves....

Also also, I honestly love every time Gwen gets a moment of happiness, no matter how small. She really has had a miserable life. Every second chasing replicated pie over the ship, or squirting whipped cream into her mouth, or, one hopes, finally spending some time playing goofy holodeck games, is a second worth living. And so, I will say, I appreciate that the animators took the time to let her smirk a little when Evil!Chakotay proposed starting his torture session with "the cute one", aka Murf the Indestructible. You gotta find those moments of joy when you can, sweetie!

(Question: Are mirror tribbles... nice? What about their new team pet, Bribble? Would Bribble have a goatee and be evil in the mirror verse? How sapient is that thing, anyway?)

********************


Read more... )

Daily Happiness

Jun. 10th, 2025 11:45 pm
torachan: an orange cat poking his head out from blankets (ollie)
[personal profile] torachan
1. A lot of times when Carla goes back to visit her folks, she doesn't get time to hang out with her cousins aside from specific family gatherings where they're just hanging out at the house, but this time she went into Chicago today with one cousin and they went to a museum and got lunch, and yesterday she went with both cousins to a record store.

2. Work was kind of stressful today (just when I think the drama and issues at this one store are finally dealt with, I have three more issues pop up today) but I had a nice evening at Disneyland to make up for it.

3. Chloe and Gemma and Ikea Shark are having a party and you're not invited.

conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
I don't want this getting lost in the links: A Journey Through the Dystopiaverse (some of those poems hit hard)

In personal news, how many nos is one expected to get before they get a yes?

********************


I managed to find some non-doom-and-gloom links to shove in here as well )

2025 Disneyland Trip #39 (6/10/25)

Jun. 10th, 2025 11:17 pm
torachan: karkat from homestuck headdesking (karkat headdesk)
[personal profile] torachan
Took an after work trip to Disneyland for dinner. Traffic was not bad at all getting down there (and even better getting home) and as of this week both the lower level pass holders are blocked out, so the crowds are lighter. Nice weather, too!

Read more... )
holmesticemods: (Default)
[personal profile] holmesticemods posting in [community profile] holmestice
Title: Good Boy, Sherls
Recipient: Kameo
Artist: REDACTED
Verse: BBC
Characters/Pairings: John Watson/Sherlock Holmes
Rating: E
Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content
Summary: When you get desperate, you’ll do anything for relief


View on AO3: Good Boy, Sherls
china_shop: Zhao Yunlan looking quizzically at the camera (Guardian - ZYL quizzical/skeptical)
[personal profile] china_shop
Title: Raw Nerves, Old Scars (5967 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei & Ye Zun, Da Qing & Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei, Chu Shuzhi, Da Qing
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, (sort of), (except Ye Zun), Anger, effects of past trauma, Complicated Relationships, Poly Relationships, Shen Wei misses his didi, Zhao Yunlan hates Ye Zun, Zhao Yunlan is triggered, Loyalty, Friendship, Sharing Clothes, Unreliable Narration
Series: Part 3 of Breakage and Repair 'verse (CSZ/SW/ZYL)

Summary: Feel the anger and do it anyway.


I started this for the Anger prompt last year, and finished it (15 minutes after the deadline /o\) for the Charity prompt. Ha!

Vid for Catlock_Holmes: Ride

Jun. 10th, 2025 07:03 pm
holmesticemods: (Default)
[personal profile] holmesticemods posting in [community profile] holmestice
Title: Ride
Recipient: catlock_holmes
Vidder: REDACTED
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes & John Watson, Mycroft Holmes, Jim Moriarty, Bill Wiggins
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Drug use/abuse with needles and unreality, guns and bullets, people being shot and killed by protagonists, fake suicide (Sherlock), actual suicide (Moriarty)
Summary: Sherlock keeps falling
Special notes: Catlock_holmes requested this band - hope this suits! Also, Sherlock's relationship with Moriarty is purely as an adversary and a symbol of Sherlock's struggle with his own mental health.

View On AO3: Ride

mail call

Jun. 11th, 2025 08:43 am
tielan: (BSG - Lee)
[personal profile] tielan
Anyone for mail?

If I already have your address, then you might end up with a postcard anyway. I also can't guarantee it won't be like a postcard I've sent you in the past, either. I'm just trying to work through my postcards...

in a moment close to now

Jun. 10th, 2025 06:16 pm
musesfool: Michael from the Good Place, facepalming in existential horror (oh no here's a lower place)
[personal profile] musesfool
ugh how is it only tuesday???

*
pauraque: bird flying over the trans flag (trans pride)
[personal profile] pauraque
Note: Stronach came out as trans after this book was published, so earlier reviews may misgender her, as does the cover bio.

In this first book of a planned fantasy trilogy (of which two books have so far been released), we're introduced to the city of Hainak, a seaport that's just been through a political revolution, as well as an alchemical-biological magitech revolution. Our main character is Yat, a naive cop who wants to be a hero, but instead she's just been demoted for being queer. As her life crumbles into a haze of drugs and disillusionment, she stumbles into the doings of a secret faction, gets murdered, and finds herself resurrected with new powers that allow her to manipulate life force with her mind, all of which gives her a very different perspective on what a hero is and what she actually wants to fight for.

So... I really wanted to like this. I did enjoy the Māori-inspired worldbuilding and the author's vivid visual imagination, filling the city with a profusion of bizarre wonders as well as a strong sense of place. I also liked a lot of the characters and cared what happened to them. But ultimately I found the book didn't have enough structure to hold together.

It's being marketed as akin to Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb series, and I think that comparison pinpoints the problem. Many aspects of the book do seem similar—there's magic with body horror, fantasy with sci-fi, loads of queerness... as well as byzantine political intrigue, misdirections about characters' identities, conversations that don't specify what's being discussed, and long monologues from unidentified speakers. But the reason all the confusing stuff works when Muir does it is that she does eventually provide enough information for you to fit all the pieces together, and on re-reading you discover that all the things that initially confused you actually make complete sense and Muir had a plan all along. And maybe Stronach also has a plan in her head, but if so it didn't make it onto the page. The book ends in a muddle of events that seem superficially dramatic but don't actually explain that much or draw the needed connections between the disparate plot elements.

The part of the book that's presented the most clearly is Yat's journey of realizing that the police only protect the powerful and serve the status quo, so if she wants to be a hero to the downtrodden then being a cop isn't the way to do it. Which would be a perfectly reasonable character arc, except that Yat's backstory is that she was an orphan living on the streets and she saw firsthand on a daily basis what cops are like, so why is her story about her "realizing" something she already knows? I guess she's supposed to be in deep denial, but it just didn't make any sense to me.

Some reviews I read had also led me to believe that the book has a lot more pirate content than it actually does. I mean, it does have pirates! But I felt cheated that we didn't spend more time with them, both because pirates are awesome and because the backstory of these specific pirates was super intriguing but criminally underexplained. I often felt like the book was barely intersecting the outskirts of a way more interesting story centered on the pirate captain and her crew, and wondered why they weren't the main characters.

Anyway, I think there was a lot of potential here but it didn't cohere enough for me to want to continue with the series. Too bad.

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