(no subject)
Mar. 28th, 2026 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flemmingsThe rain on Thursday filled the interstices of my recycle bin that I'd left upside-down to try and remove dtuff stuck to the bottom. The bins are as high as my chest, is why I can't just reach in and pull papers etc. out. Anyway, temps went back to winter Thursday night and I didn't get around to righting the bin until today. At which several chunks of ice fell out of the handle. The bouncing ball of temperature swings is supposed to be over by now but clearly is not. Today hovered near freezing with snowflurries, Monday will be 16C.
Had not registered that this week will bring Easter closures on Friday. Must stock up at some point, probably Thursday along with the rest of the world, because Wednesday is supposed to be heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Cannot convince myself that today is Saturday. Has felt like Sunday all day. Went out to Paupers for fish and chips and will not repeat the experience because the place was full of shrieking happy parties, labbing and jorking as John Lennon said, and the fish was encased in a solid half inch of batter.
Had not registered that this week will bring Easter closures on Friday. Must stock up at some point, probably Thursday along with the rest of the world, because Wednesday is supposed to be heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Cannot convince myself that today is Saturday. Has felt like Sunday all day. Went out to Paupers for fish and chips and will not repeat the experience because the place was full of shrieking happy parties, labbing and jorking as John Lennon said, and the fish was encased in a solid half inch of batter.
First Quarter Reading Wrap-Up
Mar. 28th, 2026 07:54 pmkingstokenI'm moving on the 31st, so I'm going do my first quarter reading wrap-up now because I don't think I'll be finishing anymore books in next few days. The first part of the year has actually gone really well, I have read seven books and completed a full series! I'm sometimes terrible about continuing series, so I was very surprised by that. Anyways, here are the books I read:
Magician by K.L. Noone - a sweet M/M fantasy romance, although it also felt very melancholic to me. I don't know if it was the author's intention, but one of the main characters is sort of semi-immortal, or at least lives way longer than any normal person, and he falls in love with a human man. The issue isn't really brought up til near the end of the novel and I wish there had been more internal thought or angst about this issue. That being said I did like the characters a lot and the way the author described the magic was interesting, and almost poetic at times.
The Knight and Necromancer series by A.H. Lee - this is three books, The Capital, The Broader, and The Sea. I'm just going to talk about them together because I read them back to back (and they have kind of smushed together in my head), which is something I rarely ever do, but the story was compelling enough that I wanted to keep reading and I was lucky enough that my library had them all on the hoopla app. So this series is a M/M fantasy romance about a Knight, who is the brother of the Queen, and a newly fledged Necromancer. The Queen is trying to make an alliance between her kingdom and the necromancer's mentor. There is a big bad that is trying to destroy the kingdom, people don't trust necromancers so every time something terrible happens they try and blame it on the necromancer, plus there is demons and dark magic involved. And while all this is going on a romance has developed between the knight and the necromancer. I will say my recurring complaint with this series is that it's heavy on the fantasy and light on the romance. What we get of the romance is good, but I wanted more of it. (This actually the opposite problem of most fantasy romances I've read)
Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson - The main character has a condition similar to the "50 First Dates" movie where she forgets the previous day every time she goes to sleep, only instead of being played for laughs it's treated as the kind of horrific thing that it is here. Anyways, this woman knows something is wrong, and she can't trust her husband, and she knows this because she writes herself a diary and every day she reads it. You follow her as she tries to piece her life back together. There were moments where it felt you were taking two steps forward and one step back, but it makes sense in the context of the story. Overall, a very memorable concept for a mystery.
Justice League, Volume 1: Origin by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee - I was kind of surprised to find this comic volume in a free little library, but I enjoyed it. It is about the formation of the Justice League and these characters meeting for the first time, I think this is part of the new 52. I liked that they had Batman using his head and taking on more of a leadership role, because he is so under powered compared to the rest. I did feel that Superman was out of character though. Overall, lots of action, but it needed more character moments.
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths - just finished this one today. It was nice mix of modern mystery and Gothic, which isn't easy to pull off. It is very centred on this school where one teacher dies, which leads to another murder, and it's all connected to another teacher at the school. There were three main POVs, I really liked Claire and Harbinder's POVs, one is an upper-middle class teacher and the other is an immigrant working class police detective and they both bring different perspectives to what is going on. My least favourite POV was the teenage daughter, Georgie, but I do think the author did a good job of capturing the feeling of teenager thinking they are way more grown-up than they actually are. Overall, a solid and enjoyable mystery.
Magician by K.L. Noone - a sweet M/M fantasy romance, although it also felt very melancholic to me. I don't know if it was the author's intention, but one of the main characters is sort of semi-immortal, or at least lives way longer than any normal person, and he falls in love with a human man. The issue isn't really brought up til near the end of the novel and I wish there had been more internal thought or angst about this issue. That being said I did like the characters a lot and the way the author described the magic was interesting, and almost poetic at times.
The Knight and Necromancer series by A.H. Lee - this is three books, The Capital, The Broader, and The Sea. I'm just going to talk about them together because I read them back to back (and they have kind of smushed together in my head), which is something I rarely ever do, but the story was compelling enough that I wanted to keep reading and I was lucky enough that my library had them all on the hoopla app. So this series is a M/M fantasy romance about a Knight, who is the brother of the Queen, and a newly fledged Necromancer. The Queen is trying to make an alliance between her kingdom and the necromancer's mentor. There is a big bad that is trying to destroy the kingdom, people don't trust necromancers so every time something terrible happens they try and blame it on the necromancer, plus there is demons and dark magic involved. And while all this is going on a romance has developed between the knight and the necromancer. I will say my recurring complaint with this series is that it's heavy on the fantasy and light on the romance. What we get of the romance is good, but I wanted more of it. (This actually the opposite problem of most fantasy romances I've read)
Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson - The main character has a condition similar to the "50 First Dates" movie where she forgets the previous day every time she goes to sleep, only instead of being played for laughs it's treated as the kind of horrific thing that it is here. Anyways, this woman knows something is wrong, and she can't trust her husband, and she knows this because she writes herself a diary and every day she reads it. You follow her as she tries to piece her life back together. There were moments where it felt you were taking two steps forward and one step back, but it makes sense in the context of the story. Overall, a very memorable concept for a mystery.
Justice League, Volume 1: Origin by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee - I was kind of surprised to find this comic volume in a free little library, but I enjoyed it. It is about the formation of the Justice League and these characters meeting for the first time, I think this is part of the new 52. I liked that they had Batman using his head and taking on more of a leadership role, because he is so under powered compared to the rest. I did feel that Superman was out of character though. Overall, lots of action, but it needed more character moments.
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths - just finished this one today. It was nice mix of modern mystery and Gothic, which isn't easy to pull off. It is very centred on this school where one teacher dies, which leads to another murder, and it's all connected to another teacher at the school. There were three main POVs, I really liked Claire and Harbinder's POVs, one is an upper-middle class teacher and the other is an immigrant working class police detective and they both bring different perspectives to what is going on. My least favourite POV was the teenage daughter, Georgie, but I do think the author did a good job of capturing the feeling of teenager thinking they are way more grown-up than they actually are. Overall, a solid and enjoyable mystery.
Communities
Mar. 28th, 2026 07:39 pmysabetwordsmithMusing on an essay: the commodification and enshittification of community
The fact that community is becoming a wellness trend—often with an aesthetic and hefty price tag—is very telling to me. Very exposing of the larger game at play here. Because upon hearing “loneliness kills”, the impulse wasn’t to rebuild the free, accessible infrastructure of community, and ask why we’re all too exhausted and automized to connect. It was to commodify connection—sell us Community as a product: friendship coaches, curated community memberships, networking events with entry fees, apps that gamify making friends.
( Read more... )
The fact that community is becoming a wellness trend—often with an aesthetic and hefty price tag—is very telling to me. Very exposing of the larger game at play here. Because upon hearing “loneliness kills”, the impulse wasn’t to rebuild the free, accessible infrastructure of community, and ask why we’re all too exhausted and automized to connect. It was to commodify connection—sell us Community as a product: friendship coaches, curated community memberships, networking events with entry fees, apps that gamify making friends.
( Read more... )
Nice links roundup + Darwyn Cooke + More cat news
Mar. 28th, 2026 08:44 pmerinptahClearing out some nice links:
Mastodon poll (now closed, but please enjoy the results): “Pick the best fallacy“
Interview with Rachel Manija Brown, writer turned bookstore owner: “I had never intended to open a bookshop. I always thought it was one of those idle daydreams that people who love reading and books have. I never planned to actually do it because I didn’t think it would be successful—they frequently go out of business. But after I moved to Crestline, which is a very small town in the California mountains, the little town did not have a bookshop.”
The promised official postmortem of the AO3 downtime in early March 2026 from AO3_Systems is out! (I added that link to my earlier post about the downtime.)
Speaking of AO3…I checked the backlog on some fandom tags where I hadn’t seen updates for a while because their RSS feeds glitched, and now my To Read list has ballooned by +9 pages.
Art process:
Watching a video on iconic DC writer/artist Darwyn Cooke, which led me to an interview with this quote:
“I don’t work in a formal fashion — I don’t sit and type a full script and then draw it. What I do is I plot it. And then I sit down and draw it and then I write the dialogue afterwards.”
Oh, hey, that’s what I do.
Pretty sure I’ve never heard anyone else describe making comics this way. Maybe they just won’t admit to it, because Having A Script is seen as the “professional” way to do things? But nobody could accuse Darwyn Cooke of not being a professional — and here he is, revealing this is the process that works for him.
Vindication, hah.
Cat news: The fluff has also survived his latest vet visit!
This went so much smoother than it used to in his younger years. He didn’t struggle at all once he was in the carrier, allowed the vet to pick him up and carry him to a different room for shots, and didn’t pee on anything (or anyone).
I hope that means on some level he’s internalized “the scary trip doesn’t last too long, you’ll be home safe soon, just hold very still and wait for it to be over.”
Nun travels by foot, bus, and train.
Mar. 28th, 2026 04:25 pmsistawendyBus: downtown to get on...
Train: ...the 2 line to Redmond! I got on the very first train from Seattle to Redmond. That turned out to have been no mean feat because Sound Transit keep making people get off at ID/Chinatown and delaying that first train; I thought I was going to be hours after the first train, but neau. ID station was packed, and I was lucky to have gotten on a couple of stops to the north.
Judkins Park, the last station eastbound before the bridge? Packed, because Seattleites love trains. As the train rolled on I-90 over the only train tracks on a floating bridge in the world, there was a fireboat on Lake Washington spraying in celebration. Aw, yeah. And I sure hope lots of teens use the Mercer Island station to... get off Mercer Island.
Observations:
On foot I saw: awesome signs, many hand-made. A group in orange jumpsuits with the cabinet's names on their backs. Hong Kong & Ukrainian flags. Trans & Queer Pride flags. Two Statue of Liberty costumes. Inflatable amphibians. Did not hang out for speechifying afterwards because I can still feel my feet throb, but I still walked the walk. On the bus home, I saw a succinctly winning sign: in big, purple letters, "NO."
And tonight? The Seattle Fetish Ball. And 0900 tomorrow? Brunch with my fellow trans volunqueers from Lambert House. And Monday? Pre-surgery doctor's appointments. I seem to have lost my damn marbles.
Train: ...the 2 line to Redmond! I got on the very first train from Seattle to Redmond. That turned out to have been no mean feat because Sound Transit keep making people get off at ID/Chinatown and delaying that first train; I thought I was going to be hours after the first train, but neau. ID station was packed, and I was lucky to have gotten on a couple of stops to the north.
Judkins Park, the last station eastbound before the bridge? Packed, because Seattleites love trains. As the train rolled on I-90 over the only train tracks on a floating bridge in the world, there was a fireboat on Lake Washington spraying in celebration. Aw, yeah. And I sure hope lots of teens use the Mercer Island station to... get off Mercer Island.
Observations:
- the Seattle stations look cooler than the Bellevue stations because of course they do.
- Since it had been over a decade since I'd been to Bellevue, I'd forgotten how uppy and downy and marshy Bellevue is. So there are elevated stations, tunnels, curves, low speeds, and closely-spaced stations from South Bellevue to Overlake. Downtown Bellevue & Wilburton are right across I-405 from each other.
- Wilburton is two blocks from Uwajimaya Bellevue, hell yeah.
- Microsoft has a spiffy-looking covered pedestrian bridge over SR 520 next to "Redmond Technology" station. That's right, there's a light rail station that pretty much serves nothing but Microsoft.
- For you concert-goers, there's a station right at Marymoor Park, which was a damn fine idea.
- Good grief, there's been a lot of construction in Redmond and Bellevue since I moved away. It's still going on.
- My excuse for going to Redmond? Coffee and a sandwich at Victor's.
- I have once more at least passed through every station in Seattle's light rail network.
- Did you ever notice how the synthesized announcements on the 1 line intoned "the 1 line" like "the one line that we have"? Well, no more! We have two! And they're connected! So there!
On foot I saw: awesome signs, many hand-made. A group in orange jumpsuits with the cabinet's names on their backs. Hong Kong & Ukrainian flags. Trans & Queer Pride flags. Two Statue of Liberty costumes. Inflatable amphibians. Did not hang out for speechifying afterwards because I can still feel my feet throb, but I still walked the walk. On the bus home, I saw a succinctly winning sign: in big, purple letters, "NO."
And tonight? The Seattle Fetish Ball. And 0900 tomorrow? Brunch with my fellow trans volunqueers from Lambert House. And Monday? Pre-surgery doctor's appointments. I seem to have lost my damn marbles.
tcampbell1000 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_daily
Pat McGreal and Mike Vosburg’s “Homeward Bound” reveals that the JLI’s Russian member, Dmitri Pushkin AKA Rocket Red #4, is not actually Russian. He’s…( Canadian? )
Another protest march
Mar. 28th, 2026 05:34 pmhudebnikWe were planning to go to the "No Kings" march in midtown Manhattan today, but shalmestere has been dealing with persistent leg pain (behind the left knee) for several days, it was still in evidence this morning, and she decided that standing and walking slowly for several hours on asphalt might not be a good idea. So I went stag to a smaller march in walking distance of home. However, the smaller one started several hours earlier, and the "march" portion of it was over by the time I arrived; it had become a "rally" in front of the county courthouse, with a variety of elected officials, clergy, and musical groups.
There were two "No Kings" specific songs at the rally. One, No Kings in the USA, was new to me; the recording includes a bunch of apparently-famous musicians I've never heard of. The other I had first heard a day or two earlier when one of its writers, John Forster (whom we know through the local chapter of the American Recorder Society), e-mailed us a video. The other co-writer was Tom Chapin, and the video has cameos by a couple of other Chapins, Noel Stookey, Jon McCutcheon, Christine Lavin, Judy Collins, and a bunch of other musicians whose names I didn't recognize. The song is days or weeks old, and in a fitting example of the folk process, people at today's rally were already changing the words: the chorus became "No kings! No kings! in Queens".
shalmestere has been dealing with persistent leg pain (behind the left knee) for several days, it was still in evidence this morning, and she decided that standing and walking slowly for several hours on asphalt might not be a good idea. So I went stag to a smaller march in walking distance of home. However, the smaller one started several hours earlier, and the "march" portion of it was over by the time I arrived; it had become a "rally" in front of the county courthouse, with a variety of elected officials, clergy, and musical groups.There were two "No Kings" specific songs at the rally. One, No Kings in the USA, was new to me; the recording includes a bunch of apparently-famous musicians I've never heard of. The other I had first heard a day or two earlier when one of its writers, John Forster (whom we know through the local chapter of the American Recorder Society), e-mailed us a video. The other co-writer was Tom Chapin, and the video has cameos by a couple of other Chapins, Noel Stookey, Jon McCutcheon, Christine Lavin, Judy Collins, and a bunch of other musicians whose names I didn't recognize. The song is days or weeks old, and in a fitting example of the folk process, people at today's rally were already changing the words: the chorus became "No kings! No kings! in Queens".
Hades II 1.0
Mar. 28th, 2026 10:44 pmschneefinkA little over a month ago I finally started my Hades II 1.0 playthrough, and I've been having a lot of fun. I just reached another milestone today so I thought now is a good time to post some notes.
( My first 62 runs )
( My first 62 runs )
2026 Knott's Trip #2 (3/28/26)
Mar. 28th, 2026 02:38 pmtorachanThe Boysenberry Festival will be ending while we're in Japan, so this was our last chance to check it out and I'm very glad we made the time for it because, as usual, they had some really delicious stuff on the menu.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
movies: Ready or Not 2 and Project Hail Mary
Mar. 28th, 2026 02:35 pmsnickficIn which I review two movies with main characters named Grace.
Ready or Not 2 (2026). Immediately after the events of the first movie, Grace is kidnapped, handcuffed to her estranged sister, and put into a new hide and seek game against the heads of all her in-laws' fellow rich devil worshippers.
This was a great time. It's not as tightly written as the first, and I have some quibbles, but Samara Weaving is once again and absolute delight, and the cast of rich assholes was a lot of fun, even if they couldn't bounce off each other quite as well as in the first movie because they're not all related to her. I adored Sarah Michelle Geller as Ursula, one of a pair of twins who take the field together, and one of my biggest regrets is that we didn't get more of her and Grace interacting directly. Even with the little we have, I ship it really hard.
I also enjoyed how the movie managed to take multiple key themes and plot points from the first movie and put new spins on them, and I enjoyed the expansion of the lore.
I wasn't totally sold on the sister relationship. I didn't have a problem with the estrangement part or how that got used to retcon in a family member for Grace, but I wanted their history to be a lot messier. "I didn't take you with me when I moved out at age 18 because I didn't think I could take care of you" vs "You abandoned me" just isn't that interesting a conflict to me, you know? Nor does it offer much room for interesting resolution. I've seen people say they found the movie very shippy for sistercest, but I'm not really into it, unfortunately, because they just weren't fucked up enough for me.
Also, this movie was straight to a distracting degree. ( spoilers )
So: overall not quite as charming as the first, but still very fun.
--
Project Hail Mary (2026). Ryan Gosling stars as xeniobiologist turned middle school science teacher Ryland Grace, who gets recruited for an interstellar mission to try to save the sun from getting eaten by space microbes.
Gosling is the only human being on screen for about 80% of the movie, and he carries the movie so effortlessly that I was genuinely surprised to realize that this movie is by far his most financially successful leading role. He's been getting lead roles for 20+ years, so it feels like oh yeah, of course he's an A-lister, but actually I think this is the movie that is going to cement that for him. And good for him!
The other main character is the rock alien, who is primarily a puppet augmented with animatronics and CG. I wish I'd realized going in that he was mostly practical, because I'd have paid more attention. The sets are also fully practical, and I read somewhere that there is zero green screen work; when Grace is doing his spacewalks and so in, Gosling was being filmed against matt paintings that were touched up later. And you can feel it! This is a megabudget SFF movie that was nonetheless made with love.
There are some other characters in the flashbacks, but the only one I cared about was the administrator of the mission played by Sandra Huller, whom I absolutely loved. She brings such gravitas that it felt like she was in some other movie entirely. I looked her up, and it turns out she starred in that movie Anatomy of a Fall from a few years ago, which I definitely need to see now.
The story itself is really linear, even taking into account the flashbacks in the early part of the movie. There aren't really any surprises here; you'll get the movie you saw in the trailer. I enjoyed all the montages of Grace Doing Science, which I gather is the novel author Andy Weir's big strength. The ending stutters a bit, in the sense that there were about three in a row and it wasn't clear which one was the actual end, and I have some worldbuilding/plot questions about how things shook out, which I assume Weir answered them at length in the novel.
It didn't blow my mind like it seems to have blown a lot people's, but I had a good time. If you're in the mood for a space adventure, especially one with a lot of practical filmmaking, you should check it out.
Ready or Not 2 (2026). Immediately after the events of the first movie, Grace is kidnapped, handcuffed to her estranged sister, and put into a new hide and seek game against the heads of all her in-laws' fellow rich devil worshippers.
This was a great time. It's not as tightly written as the first, and I have some quibbles, but Samara Weaving is once again and absolute delight, and the cast of rich assholes was a lot of fun, even if they couldn't bounce off each other quite as well as in the first movie because they're not all related to her. I adored Sarah Michelle Geller as Ursula, one of a pair of twins who take the field together, and one of my biggest regrets is that we didn't get more of her and Grace interacting directly. Even with the little we have, I ship it really hard.
I also enjoyed how the movie managed to take multiple key themes and plot points from the first movie and put new spins on them, and I enjoyed the expansion of the lore.
I wasn't totally sold on the sister relationship. I didn't have a problem with the estrangement part or how that got used to retcon in a family member for Grace, but I wanted their history to be a lot messier. "I didn't take you with me when I moved out at age 18 because I didn't think I could take care of you" vs "You abandoned me" just isn't that interesting a conflict to me, you know? Nor does it offer much room for interesting resolution. I've seen people say they found the movie very shippy for sistercest, but I'm not really into it, unfortunately, because they just weren't fucked up enough for me.
Also, this movie was straight to a distracting degree. ( spoilers )
So: overall not quite as charming as the first, but still very fun.
--
Project Hail Mary (2026). Ryan Gosling stars as xeniobiologist turned middle school science teacher Ryland Grace, who gets recruited for an interstellar mission to try to save the sun from getting eaten by space microbes.
Gosling is the only human being on screen for about 80% of the movie, and he carries the movie so effortlessly that I was genuinely surprised to realize that this movie is by far his most financially successful leading role. He's been getting lead roles for 20+ years, so it feels like oh yeah, of course he's an A-lister, but actually I think this is the movie that is going to cement that for him. And good for him!
The other main character is the rock alien, who is primarily a puppet augmented with animatronics and CG. I wish I'd realized going in that he was mostly practical, because I'd have paid more attention. The sets are also fully practical, and I read somewhere that there is zero green screen work; when Grace is doing his spacewalks and so in, Gosling was being filmed against matt paintings that were touched up later. And you can feel it! This is a megabudget SFF movie that was nonetheless made with love.
There are some other characters in the flashbacks, but the only one I cared about was the administrator of the mission played by Sandra Huller, whom I absolutely loved. She brings such gravitas that it felt like she was in some other movie entirely. I looked her up, and it turns out she starred in that movie Anatomy of a Fall from a few years ago, which I definitely need to see now.
The story itself is really linear, even taking into account the flashbacks in the early part of the movie. There aren't really any surprises here; you'll get the movie you saw in the trailer. I enjoyed all the montages of Grace Doing Science, which I gather is the novel author Andy Weir's big strength. The ending stutters a bit, in the sense that there were about three in a row and it wasn't clear which one was the actual end, and I have some worldbuilding/plot questions about how things shook out, which I assume Weir answered them at length in the novel.
It didn't blow my mind like it seems to have blown a lot people's, but I had a good time. If you're in the mood for a space adventure, especially one with a lot of practical filmmaking, you should check it out.
520 Day Reverse Exchange 2026 Sign-Ups Part Two: REQUESTS!
Mar. 28th, 2026 09:47 pmtrobadora posting in sid_guardian
General info/rules/schedule post - please go there to ask questions if anything isn't clear.
Offers are closed!
This is the second part of the 520 Day Reverse Exchange sign-ups. If you made an offer on the last post, this is where you make your requests. (If you didn't make an offer on the last post, you're too late to sign up, sorry.)
You'll find our anonymous participant ads in the Google doc linked at the bottom of this post.
What to do:
- Read the instructions fully before you make your requests.
- Choose 3 writers/artists/fanwork creators from the anonymous participant ads. (Try not to choose yourself!)
- Copy and paste the request form from the text box below into a comment, and fill out your request for each of your chosen ads. There are guidelines for the questions below.
Important: You can only request things (pairings, ratings, etc.) that your chosen writer/artist/fanworks creator has offered. If a request doesn't fit the offer, we'll ask you to rewrite and resubmit.
Participant ads will be removed from the Google doc when 3 requests have been received for that creator. Please refresh the doc and check that all three of your selected creators are available before you post your comment.
Comments are screened so only mods (
china_shop and trobadora) can see them.All requests must be made by 11:59pm UTC on Friday 3 April. (What time is that for me?) Then the mods will assign one of your chosen writers/artists/creators to create your gift. You'll receive your assignment by Wednesday 8 April at the latest.
( Make your requests here! )
If you have any questions about requesting or the exchange in general, please comment on the General info/rules/schedule post.
Unbound Desires: A Night of Heated Rivalry
Mar. 28th, 2026 01:22 pmradiantfracture
Here's the thing I've been helping to organize! Just picked up my posters for distro today.
A blurb:
Come celebrate the Rachel Reid book that started the whole phenomenon. Attend Victoria Festival of Authors' spring fundraiser at the Sports View Lounge above Oak Bay Rec on May 8th (7-9 pm). There will be burlesque, drag, and 🌶🌶🌶🌶 readings from real-life Victoria residents who have broken barriers around gender and sexuality in Canadian sports. Even better than the cottage!
Ticket link is here.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Thanks to
contrarywise for the title!It's not what I was made to do, but believe me, I still care
Mar. 28th, 2026 03:10 pmsovayI aten't dead! I have been flat for the last two days and would have continued the practice except for No Kings, but since it turned out the nearest rally was a grand total of ten minutes from my house I walked them to practice my democratically rightful freedom of assembly in the brightly freezing afternoon and was rewarded with the unexpected company of a long-time and little-seen friend who is not on DW and some excellent signs and costumes, of which I confess myself the most impressed by the inflatable riding frog. It was one of a small party on the lesser island of the rotary which included an impressively starred-and-striped Uncle Sam and an otherwise normally dressed protester wearing an American flag top hat. I suspect these rallies of being the one context nowadays in which I do not side-eye the deployment of traditional patriotic imagery. The larger island hosted a solo and determined Make Orwell Fiction Again. I had a chance to compliment the sign against The Lyin King whose black-on-red silhouetting had gone particularly doom metal in the execution, like a kind of psychedelic death's-head poppy. A woman whose jacket was embroidered with dragons and her pants with forests carried signs for herself and her artistically antifascist high-schooler. We had no signs of our own—I said that I was queer and here and that was about what I was up for—but were welcomed onto the curb to wave at the traffic, standing next to No War in Iran. The drive-by honking was heartening and considerable. I felt prudent to have brought earplugs. The crowd meanwhile went wild for the SUV from Cambridge Immigration Law. Making eye contact with passengers and drivers who waved back or thumbs-upped felt as useful as the presence or the noise, especially when it was someone with a headscarf or visibly non-white. The Amazon driver absolutely leaned on the horn as they went through. We were a comparatively small group, but I was not physically capable of getting myself to Boston Common and glad to have been able to demonstrate at all. I want it to mean something beyond the carnival of free expression, although the free expression should not be taken for granted: just around this time of last year was the abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk. I am going to eat some chopped liver on a challah roll and return to irregularly scheduled flatness.
Life with two kids: You Scream and You Leap
Mar. 28th, 2026 08:10 pmandrewduckerAs far as I know Gideon has seen neither anything with Guardians of the Galaxy's Yondu or an Alabama Sheriff, but when we're heading into combat in Zelda he does an amazing impression while yelling his battle cry of "C'mere Boy!"
Edit: Aha! Turns out it's from a school friend!
Challenge 202: Celestial
Mar. 28th, 2026 04:08 pminnitmarvelous_og posting in iconthat
Earth: Final Conflict | Doctor Who | Agents of SHIELD* (x2) |
( URLs )
The star used is in the second icon for Agents of SHIELD is from the Alya system. Alya is the name that Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz (the couple kissing) gave their daughter.
NO KINGS rally today!
Mar. 28th, 2026 04:03 pmmaladaI made two extra signs that simply said "NO KINGS" and gave them away.
I had my double sigh that says on one side. "It's so bad the introverts are here" and the other side says "America needs more MOXIE and less NAZI". Both sides were big hits.
It was freezing here! Semi-cloudy, snow flurries, windy. Walked around to stay warm and show off my sign. The rally wasn't as well attended as the last one but it was still good. I was smiling the whole time being around people of similar mindset.
But I'm definitely going to be exhausted for a few days.
I had my double sigh that says on one side. "It's so bad the introverts are here" and the other side says "America needs more MOXIE and less NAZI". Both sides were big hits.
It was freezing here! Semi-cloudy, snow flurries, windy. Walked around to stay warm and show off my sign. The rally wasn't as well attended as the last one but it was still good. I was smiling the whole time being around people of similar mindset.
But I'm definitely going to be exhausted for a few days.
2604 / The Pitt, 2.12; Ready or Not 2
Mar. 28th, 2026 04:03 pmsiriaI realised the other day that next month, Eldest Niece will turn thirteen. She'll be a teenager. What is time?
( The Pitt, 2.12, 6:00P.M. )
( Ready or Not 2: Here I Come )
( The Pitt, 2.12, 6:00P.M. )
( Ready or Not 2: Here I Come )
Worlds Collide: The Stormchaser Mission
Mar. 28th, 2026 07:57 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
ao3_st_lowerdecksrss_feedTwo giant planets are about to collide! Stormchaser, a warp capable robotic probe launched from the slimegirl home planet Mellanus is sent to observe the spectacular display. Starfleet sent Lt. Cmdr. Sandra Pustovya to help with the mission, commanded by Mellanoid Slime Flight Director Glatia. But just before the cataclysm, Mission Control discovers something which raises the stakes beyond mere planetary science. What's hiding in the shadows?
Words: 5607, Chapters: 2/11, Language: English
Series: Part 4 of Star Fleet Slime Girl
- Fandoms: Star Trek, Star Trek: Lower Decks (Cartoon)
- Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
- Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
- Categories: F/F
- Characters: Original Characters, Eaurp Guz, slimegirl original characters, Starfleet Characters (Star Trek)
- Relationships: Original Character/Original Character, Original Character & Original Character
- Additional Tags: Original setting, OC-focused, Spaceflight, space probe, Robotic spacecraft, Space Program, realistic space exploration, Yuri, slimegirl yuri, wlw, hard science fiction by star trek standards
Farmer's Market -- 28 March 2026 (Daffodil Day, 8th of Germination, Year 234)
Mar. 28th, 2026 01:54 pmneotomaRamps! A loaf of whole wheat bread, dark chocolate walnut cookies, locally grown popcorn, Lucy Glo apples, frozen garlic pork soup dumplings, frozen lamb & scallion dumplings, masaco empanadas, chorizo & egg empanada, vegan vanilla donut, vegan guava donut, six macarons, and apple schitz.
Science
Mar. 28th, 2026 02:06 pmysabetwordsmithWhy human babies are born helpless yet highly aware of the world
Because they cannot survive alone, human development unfolds through constant care. Feeding, carrying, soothing, and protecting do more than keep infants alive – they shape what babies see, hear, and experience.
A baby who cannot crawl into a group still becomes part of it, because caregivers bring the world closer. In that sense, dependence does not slow development. It creates the conditions that development grows from.
This explains a lot about why isolated or neglected infants -- in hospitals, orphanages, disadvantaged homes, etc. -- so often fail to thrive or outright die. They are deprived of the developmental needs for attention, interaction, and bonding with adults that would have supported healthy growth. The result is the same as when nutritional needs go unmet.
Because they cannot survive alone, human development unfolds through constant care. Feeding, carrying, soothing, and protecting do more than keep infants alive – they shape what babies see, hear, and experience.
A baby who cannot crawl into a group still becomes part of it, because caregivers bring the world closer. In that sense, dependence does not slow development. It creates the conditions that development grows from.
This explains a lot about why isolated or neglected infants -- in hospitals, orphanages, disadvantaged homes, etc. -- so often fail to thrive or outright die. They are deprived of the developmental needs for attention, interaction, and bonding with adults that would have supported healthy growth. The result is the same as when nutritional needs go unmet.