It's raining somewhere else (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
misslucyjane) wrote2025-12-13 12:53 pm
misslucyjane) wrote2025-12-13 12:53 pm
Entry tags:
it's that time again!
GetYourWordsOut: Year Eighteen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net
GetYourWordsOut: Year Eighteen!
Pledges & Requirements | getyourwordsout.net
skygiants (skygiants) wrote2025-12-13 10:41 am
skygiants) wrote2025-12-13 10:41 amEntry tags:
(no subject)
Sometimes I think that if I ever gain full comprehension of the various upheavals and rapid-fire political rotations that followed in the hundred years after the French Revolution, my mind will at that point be big and powerful enough to understand any other bit of history that anyone can throw at me. Prior to reading Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, I knew that in the 1870s there had briefly been a Paris Commune, and also a siege, and hot air balloons and Victor Hugo were involved in these events somehow but I had not actually understood that these were actually Two Separate Events and that properly speaking there were two Sieges of Paris, because everyone in Paris was so angry about the disaster that was the first Siege (besiegers: Prussia) that they immediately seceded from the government, declared a commune, and got besieged again (besiegers: the rest of France, or more specifically the patched-together French government that had just signed a peace treaty with Prussia but had not yet fully decided whether to be a monarchy again, a constitutional monarchy again, or a Republic again.)
As a book, Paris in Ruins has a bit of a tricky task. Its argument is that the miserable events in Paris of 1870-71 -- double siege, brutal political violence, leftists and political reformers who'd hoped for the end of the Glittering and Civilized but Ultimately Authoritarian Napoleon III Empire getting their wish in the most monkey's paw fashion imaginable -- had a lasting psychological impact on the artists who would end up forming the Impressionist movement that expressed itself through their art. Certainly true! Hard to imagine it wouldn't! But in order to tell this story it has to spend half the book just explaining the Siege and the Commune, and the problem is that although the Siege and the Commune certainly impacted the artists, the artists didn't really have much impact on the Siege and the Commune ... so reading the 25-50% section of the book is like, 'okay! so, you have to remember, the vast majority of the people in Paris right now were working class and starving and experiencing miserable conditions, which really sets the stage for what comes next! and what about Berthe Morisot and Edouard Manet, our protagonists? well, they were not working class. but they were in Paris, and not having a good time, and depressed!' and then the 50-75% section is like 'well, now the working class in Paris were furious, and here's all the things that happened about that! and what about Berthe Morisot and Edouard Manet, our protagonists? well, they were not in Paris any more at this point. But they were still not having a good time and still depressed!'
Sieges and plagues are the parts of history that scare me the most and so of course I am always finding myself compelled to read about them; also, I really appreciate history that engages with the relationship between art and the surrounding political and cultural phenomena that shapes and is shaped by it. So I appreciated this book very much even though I don't think it quite succeeds at this task, in large part because there is just so much to say in explaining The Siege and The Commune that it struggles sometimes to keep it focused through its chosen lens. But I did learn a lot, if sometimes somewhat separately, about both the Impressionists and the sociopolitical environment of France in the back half of the 19th century, and I am glad to have done so. I feel like I have a moderate understanding of dramatic French upheavals of the 1860s-80s now, to add to my moderate understanding of French upheavals in the 1780s-90s (the Revolution era) and my moderate understanding of French upheavals in the 1830s-40s (the Les Mis era) which only leaves me about six or seven more decades in between to try and comprehend.
As a book, Paris in Ruins has a bit of a tricky task. Its argument is that the miserable events in Paris of 1870-71 -- double siege, brutal political violence, leftists and political reformers who'd hoped for the end of the Glittering and Civilized but Ultimately Authoritarian Napoleon III Empire getting their wish in the most monkey's paw fashion imaginable -- had a lasting psychological impact on the artists who would end up forming the Impressionist movement that expressed itself through their art. Certainly true! Hard to imagine it wouldn't! But in order to tell this story it has to spend half the book just explaining the Siege and the Commune, and the problem is that although the Siege and the Commune certainly impacted the artists, the artists didn't really have much impact on the Siege and the Commune ... so reading the 25-50% section of the book is like, 'okay! so, you have to remember, the vast majority of the people in Paris right now were working class and starving and experiencing miserable conditions, which really sets the stage for what comes next! and what about Berthe Morisot and Edouard Manet, our protagonists? well, they were not working class. but they were in Paris, and not having a good time, and depressed!' and then the 50-75% section is like 'well, now the working class in Paris were furious, and here's all the things that happened about that! and what about Berthe Morisot and Edouard Manet, our protagonists? well, they were not in Paris any more at this point. But they were still not having a good time and still depressed!'
Sieges and plagues are the parts of history that scare me the most and so of course I am always finding myself compelled to read about them; also, I really appreciate history that engages with the relationship between art and the surrounding political and cultural phenomena that shapes and is shaped by it. So I appreciated this book very much even though I don't think it quite succeeds at this task, in large part because there is just so much to say in explaining The Siege and The Commune that it struggles sometimes to keep it focused through its chosen lens. But I did learn a lot, if sometimes somewhat separately, about both the Impressionists and the sociopolitical environment of France in the back half of the 19th century, and I am glad to have done so. I feel like I have a moderate understanding of dramatic French upheavals of the 1860s-80s now, to add to my moderate understanding of French upheavals in the 1780s-90s (the Revolution era) and my moderate understanding of French upheavals in the 1830s-40s (the Les Mis era) which only leaves me about six or seven more decades in between to try and comprehend.
skygiants (skygiants) wrote2025-12-12 05:05 pm
skygiants) wrote2025-12-12 05:05 pmEntry tags:
(no subject)
The Ukrainian fantasy novel Vita Nostra has been on my to-read list for a while ever since shati described it as 'kind of like the Wayside School books' in a conversation about dark academia, a description which I trusted implicitly because shati always describes things in helpful and universally accepted terms.
Anyway, so Vita Nostra is more or less a horror novel .... or at least it's about the thing which is scariest to me, existential transformation of the self without consent and without control.
At the start of the book, teenage Sasha is on a nice beach vacation with her mom when she finds herself being followed everywhere by a strange, ominous man. He has a dictate for her: every morning, she has to skinny-dip at 4 AM and swim out to a certain point in the ocean, then back, Or Else. Or Else? Well, the first time she oversleeps, her mom's vacation boyfriend has a mild heart attack and ends up in the ER. The next time ... well, who knows, the next time, so Sasha keeps on swimming. And then the vacation ends! And the horrible and inexplicable interval is, thankfully, over!
Except of course it isn't over; the ominous man returns, with more instructions, which eventually derail Sasha off of her planned normal pathway of high school --> university --> career. Instead, despite the confused protests of her mother, she glumly follows the instructions of her evil angel and treks off to the remote town of Torpa to attend the Institute of Special Technologies.
Nobody is at the Institute of Special Technologies by choice. Nobody is there to have a good time. Everyone has been coerced there by an ominous advisor; as entrance precondition, everyone has been given a set of miserable tasks to perform, Or Else. Also, it's hard not to notice that all the older students look strange and haunted and shamble disconcertingly through the dorms in a way that seems like a sort of existential dispute with the concept of space, though if you ask them about it they're just like 'lol you'll understand eventually,' which is not reassuring. And then there are the actual assignments -- the assignments that seem designed to train you to think in a way the human brain was not designed to think -- and which Sasha is actually really good at! the best in her class! fortunately or unfortunately .... but fortunately in at least this respect: everyone wants to pass, because if you fail at the midterm, if you fail at the finals, there's always the Or Else waiting.
AND ALSO all the roommates are assigned and it's hell.
Weird, fascinating book! I found it very tense and propulsive despite the fact that for chapters at a time all that happens is Sasha doing horrible homework exercises and turning her brain inside out. I feel like a lot of magic school books are, essentially, power fantasies. What if you learned magic? What if you were so good at it? Sasha is learning some kind of magic, and Sasha is so good at it, but the overwhelming emotion of this book is powerlessness, lack of agency, arbitrary tasks and incomprehensible experiences papered over with a parody of Normal College Life. On the one hand Sasha is desperate to hold onto her humanity and to remain a person that her mother will recognize when she comes home; on the other hand, the veneer of Normal College Life layered on top of the Institute's existential weirdness seems more and more pointless and frustrating the further on it goes and the stranger Sasha herself becomes. I think the moment it really clicked for me is midway through Sasha's second year, when ( spoilers )
shati described it as 'kind of like the Wayside School books' in a conversation about dark academia, a description which I trusted implicitly because shati always describes things in helpful and universally accepted terms. Anyway, so Vita Nostra is more or less a horror novel .... or at least it's about the thing which is scariest to me, existential transformation of the self without consent and without control.
At the start of the book, teenage Sasha is on a nice beach vacation with her mom when she finds herself being followed everywhere by a strange, ominous man. He has a dictate for her: every morning, she has to skinny-dip at 4 AM and swim out to a certain point in the ocean, then back, Or Else. Or Else? Well, the first time she oversleeps, her mom's vacation boyfriend has a mild heart attack and ends up in the ER. The next time ... well, who knows, the next time, so Sasha keeps on swimming. And then the vacation ends! And the horrible and inexplicable interval is, thankfully, over!
Except of course it isn't over; the ominous man returns, with more instructions, which eventually derail Sasha off of her planned normal pathway of high school --> university --> career. Instead, despite the confused protests of her mother, she glumly follows the instructions of her evil angel and treks off to the remote town of Torpa to attend the Institute of Special Technologies.
Nobody is at the Institute of Special Technologies by choice. Nobody is there to have a good time. Everyone has been coerced there by an ominous advisor; as entrance precondition, everyone has been given a set of miserable tasks to perform, Or Else. Also, it's hard not to notice that all the older students look strange and haunted and shamble disconcertingly through the dorms in a way that seems like a sort of existential dispute with the concept of space, though if you ask them about it they're just like 'lol you'll understand eventually,' which is not reassuring. And then there are the actual assignments -- the assignments that seem designed to train you to think in a way the human brain was not designed to think -- and which Sasha is actually really good at! the best in her class! fortunately or unfortunately .... but fortunately in at least this respect: everyone wants to pass, because if you fail at the midterm, if you fail at the finals, there's always the Or Else waiting.
AND ALSO all the roommates are assigned and it's hell.
Weird, fascinating book! I found it very tense and propulsive despite the fact that for chapters at a time all that happens is Sasha doing horrible homework exercises and turning her brain inside out. I feel like a lot of magic school books are, essentially, power fantasies. What if you learned magic? What if you were so good at it? Sasha is learning some kind of magic, and Sasha is so good at it, but the overwhelming emotion of this book is powerlessness, lack of agency, arbitrary tasks and incomprehensible experiences papered over with a parody of Normal College Life. On the one hand Sasha is desperate to hold onto her humanity and to remain a person that her mother will recognize when she comes home; on the other hand, the veneer of Normal College Life layered on top of the Institute's existential weirdness seems more and more pointless and frustrating the further on it goes and the stranger Sasha herself becomes. I think the moment it really clicked for me is midway through Sasha's second year, when ( spoilers )
Renay (renay) wrote2025-12-12 04:30 pm
renay) wrote2025-12-12 04:30 pmEntry tags:
Rec-Cember Day #6
I took a small break from recs in order to reread the entire Murderbot Diaries series, so I could go into my ARC of Platform Decay PRIMED and EDUCATED. But yesterday was Thursday, and there's a new issue of Intergalactic Mixtape, and I'm claiming those recs for this project.
Today's Recs:
From IGMX:
Bonus rec:
The WYRMHOLE: if you like short original fiction recs, storytelling, puns, and unhinged anecdotes, this newsletter is a fun time.
Today's Recs:
From IGMX:
- Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition by Jenny Hamilton
- everyone HATES a negative review by marines
- Hollywood is Dead. Long Live Hollywood. by Vance K.
Bonus rec:
The WYRMHOLE: if you like short original fiction recs, storytelling, puns, and unhinged anecdotes, this newsletter is a fun time.
Humph (spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-11 08:36 pm
spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-11 08:36 pmEntry tags:
In which our heroine reverts to form as a fictional character
- I appear to be a children's book character today.
In front of the people I was with, while they were all looking at me, I took my waterproof trousers out of my bag and unrolled them, which released an adorable cartoonish spider that scuttled away and hid (presumably giggling mischievously).
- Main campaign: "There was no wrecks and nobody drownded".
1. Travelled across variously muddy, mired, and flooded landscapes to the first of today's two riverside study sites. Small river at entirely normal levels, and access less muddy than usual at this time of year. Yet again being a geology understander pays off.
2. Arrived at second riverside site next to large (by English standards) river that was clearly rising more rapidly than forecast. Narrow and overgrown walkway to survey site was partially underwater and only about 2cm above the point at which I'd have vetoed going any further for elfin safety. Am told walkway flooded this afternoon after we left (and adjacent river access points had already been fenced off by local authorities, which we discovered when we passed them later).
- Sidequest: pet fierce Battle Pug.
While we were out and about a woman walking her pug dog passed us and I bent down to pet him, and she warned me that he always bites strangers (and sometimes also her), but he just sniffed my hand then barked at me when she dragged him away. [/definitely a character in a children's book today]
- Levelling up: heroically rescue dusty tomes from book dragon's hoard.
I scraped into an academic library after the door was locked at the end of the day, using my card and keycode, picked up a stack of six books from the reservations shelf which conspiring colleague had rounded up and placed there earlier (only one of which was an actual reservation for which I had paid), and took them to be figuratively rubber-stamped by the librarian because special collections items need approval and can only be issued for two weeks. Librarian asked me if I'd manage to get them back before library closes for xmas in 13 days. I pantomimed my regret at being unable to comply and, looking as if butter wouldn't melt &c., I asked sweetly if items could be issued until library reopens in January. Librarian, radiating the traditional seasonal bad-will to all library patrons, agreed to additional loan time through teeth gritted in a passive-aggressive rictus of a smile. Hopefully somebody else will infuriate the book dragon enough to put me out of mind and I won't suffer unholy vengeance visited upon me in January.
- Apropos of the previous item, the academic book I'm currently reading has the bestest "List of Definitions and Abbreviations" in the front, lmao:
( Abbreviation Appreciation Society )
In front of the people I was with, while they were all looking at me, I took my waterproof trousers out of my bag and unrolled them, which released an adorable cartoonish spider that scuttled away and hid (presumably giggling mischievously).
- Main campaign: "There was no wrecks and nobody drownded".
1. Travelled across variously muddy, mired, and flooded landscapes to the first of today's two riverside study sites. Small river at entirely normal levels, and access less muddy than usual at this time of year. Yet again being a geology understander pays off.
2. Arrived at second riverside site next to large (by English standards) river that was clearly rising more rapidly than forecast. Narrow and overgrown walkway to survey site was partially underwater and only about 2cm above the point at which I'd have vetoed going any further for elfin safety. Am told walkway flooded this afternoon after we left (and adjacent river access points had already been fenced off by local authorities, which we discovered when we passed them later).
- Sidequest: pet fierce Battle Pug.
While we were out and about a woman walking her pug dog passed us and I bent down to pet him, and she warned me that he always bites strangers (and sometimes also her), but he just sniffed my hand then barked at me when she dragged him away. [/definitely a character in a children's book today]
- Levelling up: heroically rescue dusty tomes from book dragon's hoard.
I scraped into an academic library after the door was locked at the end of the day, using my card and keycode, picked up a stack of six books from the reservations shelf which conspiring colleague had rounded up and placed there earlier (only one of which was an actual reservation for which I had paid), and took them to be figuratively rubber-stamped by the librarian because special collections items need approval and can only be issued for two weeks. Librarian asked me if I'd manage to get them back before library closes for xmas in 13 days. I pantomimed my regret at being unable to comply and, looking as if butter wouldn't melt &c., I asked sweetly if items could be issued until library reopens in January. Librarian, radiating the traditional seasonal bad-will to all library patrons, agreed to additional loan time through teeth gritted in a passive-aggressive rictus of a smile. Hopefully somebody else will infuriate the book dragon enough to put me out of mind and I won't suffer unholy vengeance visited upon me in January.
- Apropos of the previous item, the academic book I'm currently reading has the bestest "List of Definitions and Abbreviations" in the front, lmao:
( Abbreviation Appreciation Society )
Aster (white_aster) wrote2025-12-10 09:32 pm
white_aster) wrote2025-12-10 09:32 pmEntry tags:
What We Weading Wednesday
Not...dead...yet....
What I've read lately:
- Katabasis by RF Kuang - Two analytic magic grad students go to Hell to try to retrieve their terrible mentor. This was inventive and ponderous and kind of inherited the kind of pretentiousness you'd expect when the main characters were Cambridge grad students. The main character is incredibly flawed and I didn't always understand her mood shifts. Still, I finished it and ended up liking it more than I disliked it.
- The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish, Rhiannon Beaubien. A good, originally-indie book on...common sense, really. Philosophy and logic and reasoning. Most of this I already had heard of and use, but it was a good rundown of things that folks might need to be reminded of, lest they fall into fallacies and such.
- Quit Like A Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung. Current events this year have left me crunching a lot of numbers, and this was one of the first financial independence/retire early (FIRE) books to come out. I feel like it's a bit glib in some ways, and it is a bit dated now since finance and the economy move so fast, but it did have a great discussion of investing and how to calculate when you have enough to retire.
Reading now:
- The Last Watch by JS Dewes. Unsure on this one. Ragtag group of misfits and malcontents save the universe is one of my fave tropes, but temporal shenanigans are not my fave, and I don't know if this has enough oomph to hook me yet.
What I've read lately:
- Katabasis by RF Kuang - Two analytic magic grad students go to Hell to try to retrieve their terrible mentor. This was inventive and ponderous and kind of inherited the kind of pretentiousness you'd expect when the main characters were Cambridge grad students. The main character is incredibly flawed and I didn't always understand her mood shifts. Still, I finished it and ended up liking it more than I disliked it.
- The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish, Rhiannon Beaubien. A good, originally-indie book on...common sense, really. Philosophy and logic and reasoning. Most of this I already had heard of and use, but it was a good rundown of things that folks might need to be reminded of, lest they fall into fallacies and such.
- Quit Like A Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung. Current events this year have left me crunching a lot of numbers, and this was one of the first financial independence/retire early (FIRE) books to come out. I feel like it's a bit glib in some ways, and it is a bit dated now since finance and the economy move so fast, but it did have a great discussion of investing and how to calculate when you have enough to retire.
Reading now:
- The Last Watch by JS Dewes. Unsure on this one. Ragtag group of misfits and malcontents save the universe is one of my fave tropes, but temporal shenanigans are not my fave, and I don't know if this has enough oomph to hook me yet.
Humph (spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-10 04:31 pm
spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-10 04:31 pmEntry tags:
In which I reads therefore I is (or is I or is we?)
- Reading: 118 books to 9 Dec 2025.
114. No-Signal Area, by Robert Perišić [Perisic for those without the correct font], 2014 (translated from Croatian [aka BCMS aka Serbo-Croatian] by Ellen Elias-Bursać), contemporary literary novel, 5/5 or 11/10
A novel about post-socialist countries and the capitalists who exploit them. This post has no spoilers for the absurdist-realist ending, and I recommend reading this novel without knowing how the story plays out because it's brilliantly twisty.
No-Signal Area displays Perišić's customary skill and is even better than his earlier Our Man in Iraq with:
1. deep human characterisation for a large cast of players;
2. a rollicking plot (imagine a picaresque story told from the points of view of all the main speaking characters);
3. magnificent use of language from reportage to prose poetry;
4. laugh out loud dry humour (also tragedy, obv, because what deeply human story isn't a tragi-comedy?).
The novel has two themes, beyond the usual examination of humanity.
Theme A. The most amazing aspect of the "former Yugoslavia" isn't the wars, which could happen anywhere and do all the time, but that Yugoslavia itself was amazing for the decades of Non-Aligned socialist peace when life vastly improved for most of the people most of the time (after having fought off the nazis their own selves through their National Liberational Movement, and having successfully noped Stalin and stalinism diplomatically; and all without exploiting a slave class, or committing genocide of indigenous people, or expending vast quantities of previously untouched and irreplaceable natural resources).
[/i'm sure anyone who wishes to complain about Tito having some things named after him won't be writing to me from a country where the capital is called "Washington" or any state with an actual king]
Theme Z. In capitalist societies ("There's no such thing as society!") romantic love between two people is sold as the be-all-and-end-all of relationships but it can't substitute for healthy cooperative local communities, or large scale social security (because two people can't provide a lifelong welfare state for each other, even without additional dependents). Also tackles the fact that wide economic gaps, especially between genders, skews sexuality-based romantic relationships away from supportive partnerships and towards transactional economics (referred to in this translation as "whoring" but used with political/social under and overtones - Perišić isn't as good at writing women and feminism as he is at everything else but he is improving, as the end of this novel demonstrates).
Note: if anyone's wondering about Oleg's unanswered question towards the end, the answer is that Venezuela and Libya intended to set up a parallel Non-Aligned economic system, and had the natural resources to back this up, which would have been the ultimate (potential) threat to capitalist billionaire oligarchy. And, yes, of course the capitalist billionaire oligarchs would prefer to deal with fascist death-squad warlords and religious-fundamentalist extremists because they will never organise internationally and are no immediate threat to the resource-hoarding billionaires' survival into the post-climate change dystopia they're expecting. And, yes, as soon as I mention this fact of history most westerners (who have no idea what the Non-Aligned Movement actually was) will accuse me of believing "conspiracy theories" because they prefer ignorant delusions over existential realities. Oil, tho. Follow the money.
( Quotes )
114. No-Signal Area, by Robert Perišić [Perisic for those without the correct font], 2014 (translated from Croatian [aka BCMS aka Serbo-Croatian] by Ellen Elias-Bursać), contemporary literary novel, 5/5 or 11/10
A novel about post-socialist countries and the capitalists who exploit them. This post has no spoilers for the absurdist-realist ending, and I recommend reading this novel without knowing how the story plays out because it's brilliantly twisty.
No-Signal Area displays Perišić's customary skill and is even better than his earlier Our Man in Iraq with:
1. deep human characterisation for a large cast of players;
2. a rollicking plot (imagine a picaresque story told from the points of view of all the main speaking characters);
3. magnificent use of language from reportage to prose poetry;
4. laugh out loud dry humour (also tragedy, obv, because what deeply human story isn't a tragi-comedy?).
The novel has two themes, beyond the usual examination of humanity.
Theme A. The most amazing aspect of the "former Yugoslavia" isn't the wars, which could happen anywhere and do all the time, but that Yugoslavia itself was amazing for the decades of Non-Aligned socialist peace when life vastly improved for most of the people most of the time (after having fought off the nazis their own selves through their National Liberational Movement, and having successfully noped Stalin and stalinism diplomatically; and all without exploiting a slave class, or committing genocide of indigenous people, or expending vast quantities of previously untouched and irreplaceable natural resources).
[/i'm sure anyone who wishes to complain about Tito having some things named after him won't be writing to me from a country where the capital is called "Washington" or any state with an actual king]
Theme Z. In capitalist societies ("There's no such thing as society!") romantic love between two people is sold as the be-all-and-end-all of relationships but it can't substitute for healthy cooperative local communities, or large scale social security (because two people can't provide a lifelong welfare state for each other, even without additional dependents). Also tackles the fact that wide economic gaps, especially between genders, skews sexuality-based romantic relationships away from supportive partnerships and towards transactional economics (referred to in this translation as "whoring" but used with political/social under and overtones - Perišić isn't as good at writing women and feminism as he is at everything else but he is improving, as the end of this novel demonstrates).
Note: if anyone's wondering about Oleg's unanswered question towards the end, the answer is that Venezuela and Libya intended to set up a parallel Non-Aligned economic system, and had the natural resources to back this up, which would have been the ultimate (potential) threat to capitalist billionaire oligarchy. And, yes, of course the capitalist billionaire oligarchs would prefer to deal with fascist death-squad warlords and religious-fundamentalist extremists because they will never organise internationally and are no immediate threat to the resource-hoarding billionaires' survival into the post-climate change dystopia they're expecting. And, yes, as soon as I mention this fact of history most westerners (who have no idea what the Non-Aligned Movement actually was) will accuse me of believing "conspiracy theories" because they prefer ignorant delusions over existential realities. Oil, tho. Follow the money.
( Quotes )
Humph (spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-10 01:41 pm
spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-10 01:41 pmEntry tags:
In which there is a Very Important Poll (the Doctor Who one)
I've begun compiling my reading stats for 2025 and one of the challenges was fiction with a "senior" protagonist. I've read at least 20+ books with human main characters over the age of 65, and 26+ over the age of 50. 31+ books if we include all good senior representation in all types of books. [Assuming we're including Merlin, which I'm ruling that we are despite his tendency to age backwards and/or hibernate and/or reincarnate - see bonus poll below....]
But does the tenth Doctor count as a senior?
A. I mean, yes, he's objectively old by human standards (at least within his own linear timeline) but Time Lords who stay out of danger would presumably take much longer to pass through ten regenerations so he must be a comparatively young Tenth by normative Time Lord standards.
B. Also, if each regeneration is a life stage then the tenth Doctor would be about 62 years old compared to a human who lives in the UK because he's only about 77% through his regenerations (if he had the normative number for Time Lords), so he'd be pre-retirement age by the human standards that applied during his visits to Earth.
So, is the tenth Doctor a senior because his objective timeline age is over 65 (or whatever threshold you're applying), or is the tenth Doctor not a senior because he's only about 77% through his regenerations (if he had the normative number for Time Lords)? Or some other fanonic reasoning which you hold dear?
But does the tenth Doctor count as a senior?
A. I mean, yes, he's objectively old by human standards (at least within his own linear timeline) but Time Lords who stay out of danger would presumably take much longer to pass through ten regenerations so he must be a comparatively young Tenth by normative Time Lord standards.
B. Also, if each regeneration is a life stage then the tenth Doctor would be about 62 years old compared to a human who lives in the UK because he's only about 77% through his regenerations (if he had the normative number for Time Lords), so he'd be pre-retirement age by the human standards that applied during his visits to Earth.
So, is the tenth Doctor a senior because his objective timeline age is over 65 (or whatever threshold you're applying), or is the tenth Doctor not a senior because he's only about 77% through his regenerations (if he had the normative number for Time Lords)? Or some other fanonic reasoning which you hold dear?
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 13
Is the tenth Doctor a senior?
View Answers
Yes
2 (16.7%)
No
6 (50.0%)
My brain hurts
4 (33.3%)
I have a note excusing me from maths
1 (8.3%)
Bonus: Is your favourite iteration of Merlin a senior?
View Answers
Yes
7 (58.3%)
No
1 (8.3%)
It's complicated
3 (25.0%)
What do raptors have to do with seniors?
4 (33.3%)
Chanter (chanter1944) wrote2025-12-09 09:33 pm
chanter1944) wrote2025-12-09 09:33 pm
@Holiday_wishes is on again this year!
I'm late in realizing the fact, but yep, this comm is up and running again! I need to get my own wishlist posted over there.
Humph (spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-09 04:54 pm
spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-09 04:54 pmIn which I read therefore I am
- Reading: 117 books to 9 Dec 2025.
Current reading quote:
"Time passes. It passes.
It passes. It scores."
100. The Possibility of Tenderness, by Jason Allen-Paisant, 2025, non-fiction autobiography and botany (nature, lol), 5/5
Personal memoir as community social history, very readable prose, relates several subjects together (including the relationship between those who profiteered from slavery in Jamaica and then profiteered from selling all their slaves to the British taxpayer and then profiteered by using the British taxpayer's money to buy up and exploit common land or other land traditionally lived and worked on by the rural working classes in Britain, and so having ejected freed slaves from their homes in Jamaica proceeded to use the profit to eject working class people from their homes and livelihoods in Britain).
Brought back memories of my childhood, including rural working class people feeding ourselves from our own land (and freely distributing surplus to those in need in our communities), and my local shop being a wooden roadside shack that sold newspapers and tobacco and sweets.
So many possible quotes from this, but: "Sir, I'm glad to see you here; it means everything to me."
My one criticism is that Allen-Paisant doesn't allow science enough credit for recognising biochemical(-electrical-vibrational) communications between plants and animals.
101. Lost to the Sea, by Lisa Woollett, 2024, non-fiction geography and history and travel, 5/5
A social history of human settlements around the coastline of the British Isles (including Ireland) that have been "lost to the sea" by coastal erosion, flooding, and sand dunes, from prehistory to today. Not comprehensive but each chapter covers a different type of situation. Quote: "picknickers" is a choice of spelling, lol.
105. The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett, 1896, slice of life novel, 3.5/5
My favourite part was the extended pen-portrait of Mrs Todd, especially Mrs Todd the herbalist. I also thought the retired sea captain's immram tale was an interesting choice of genre. But the thing that makes these nostalgic USian settler narratives fail for me is the conspiracy of silence that they sign up to about the genocide of Native Americans / First Nations / Indigenous people. Jewett describes evidence of an "Indian" settlement and artifacts found on Shell-Heap Island (the shell-heap is an old midden), and that local white people collect these "relics"/"remains", and even repeats local legends about Native Americans from the area (the island landing is difficult to navigate so there is an implied level of boating skill in local cultures), and... that's it: the "Indians" were living there and now they're not and there's NO commentary about that at all - not one word - which is contrary to Jewett's anthropological curiosity about every other detail of local life. When USians say they have "no history" what they mean is that they don't want to remember the history they do have. It's such a creepy conspiracy of silence amongst otherwise engaged and curious people. Oh, and the "Indians" are only mentioned in relation to the currently uninhabited Shell-Heap Island and not anywhere white people now live - gee, I wonder why....
Quotes:
- [Mrs Fosdick, expurgated] "'T was 'counted a great place in old Indian times; you can pick up their stone tools 'most any time if you hunt about."
- [Mrs Todd describing her cousin-in-law Joanna Todd] "[...] she asked if he had any interest about the old Indian remains, and took down some queer stone gouges and hammers off of one of her shelves and showed them to him same's if he was a boy. He remarked that he'd like to walk over an' see the shell-heap; so she went right to the door and pointed him the way."
- [Captain Bowden] "I didn't know but you merely wanted to hunt for some o' them Indian relics."
( 109, 111, 112, 115 (&114 separately tomorrow, I hope) )
Current reading quote:
"Time passes. It passes.
It passes. It scores."
100. The Possibility of Tenderness, by Jason Allen-Paisant, 2025, non-fiction autobiography and botany (nature, lol), 5/5
Personal memoir as community social history, very readable prose, relates several subjects together (including the relationship between those who profiteered from slavery in Jamaica and then profiteered from selling all their slaves to the British taxpayer and then profiteered by using the British taxpayer's money to buy up and exploit common land or other land traditionally lived and worked on by the rural working classes in Britain, and so having ejected freed slaves from their homes in Jamaica proceeded to use the profit to eject working class people from their homes and livelihoods in Britain).
Brought back memories of my childhood, including rural working class people feeding ourselves from our own land (and freely distributing surplus to those in need in our communities), and my local shop being a wooden roadside shack that sold newspapers and tobacco and sweets.
So many possible quotes from this, but: "Sir, I'm glad to see you here; it means everything to me."
My one criticism is that Allen-Paisant doesn't allow science enough credit for recognising biochemical(-electrical-vibrational) communications between plants and animals.
101. Lost to the Sea, by Lisa Woollett, 2024, non-fiction geography and history and travel, 5/5
A social history of human settlements around the coastline of the British Isles (including Ireland) that have been "lost to the sea" by coastal erosion, flooding, and sand dunes, from prehistory to today. Not comprehensive but each chapter covers a different type of situation. Quote: "picknickers" is a choice of spelling, lol.
105. The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett, 1896, slice of life novel, 3.5/5
My favourite part was the extended pen-portrait of Mrs Todd, especially Mrs Todd the herbalist. I also thought the retired sea captain's immram tale was an interesting choice of genre. But the thing that makes these nostalgic USian settler narratives fail for me is the conspiracy of silence that they sign up to about the genocide of Native Americans / First Nations / Indigenous people. Jewett describes evidence of an "Indian" settlement and artifacts found on Shell-Heap Island (the shell-heap is an old midden), and that local white people collect these "relics"/"remains", and even repeats local legends about Native Americans from the area (the island landing is difficult to navigate so there is an implied level of boating skill in local cultures), and... that's it: the "Indians" were living there and now they're not and there's NO commentary about that at all - not one word - which is contrary to Jewett's anthropological curiosity about every other detail of local life. When USians say they have "no history" what they mean is that they don't want to remember the history they do have. It's such a creepy conspiracy of silence amongst otherwise engaged and curious people. Oh, and the "Indians" are only mentioned in relation to the currently uninhabited Shell-Heap Island and not anywhere white people now live - gee, I wonder why....
Quotes:
- [Mrs Fosdick, expurgated] "'T was 'counted a great place in old Indian times; you can pick up their stone tools 'most any time if you hunt about."
- [Mrs Todd describing her cousin-in-law Joanna Todd] "[...] she asked if he had any interest about the old Indian remains, and took down some queer stone gouges and hammers off of one of her shelves and showed them to him same's if he was a boy. He remarked that he'd like to walk over an' see the shell-heap; so she went right to the door and pointed him the way."
- [Captain Bowden] "I didn't know but you merely wanted to hunt for some o' them Indian relics."
( 109, 111, 112, 115 (&114 separately tomorrow, I hope) )
green (green) wrote2025-12-09 04:53 am
green) wrote2025-12-09 04:53 am(no subject)
There are so many things I want to do. I'm not getting younger, so I should just quit procrastinating.
One thing is that I want to get through my TBR list! Or at least whittle it down. My reading has dropped off dramatically, but I still keep buying books. WTF, self. I signed up for Storygraph a while ago, but now I'm serious about it! Got to keep up with what I'm doing. (username greeniegreen)
I keep wasting time on Tumblr--not that I don't love Tumblr, but I could be doing things other than staying up to date on the latest in meme culture.
And I have so many WIPs. *flails* And I REALLY need to finish the epilogue to the fic I'm posting. Before I get to the end of the chapters I have!
One thing I definitely need is new glasses. I can't even see the screen well enough to make icons anymore, and I used to love that. :( I can read just fine, but small details are fuzzy and I can't make graphics/icons with fuzzy eyes.
One thing is that I want to get through my TBR list! Or at least whittle it down. My reading has dropped off dramatically, but I still keep buying books. WTF, self. I signed up for Storygraph a while ago, but now I'm serious about it! Got to keep up with what I'm doing. (username greeniegreen)
I keep wasting time on Tumblr--not that I don't love Tumblr, but I could be doing things other than staying up to date on the latest in meme culture.
And I have so many WIPs. *flails* And I REALLY need to finish the epilogue to the fic I'm posting. Before I get to the end of the chapters I have!
One thing I definitely need is new glasses. I can't even see the screen well enough to make icons anymore, and I used to love that. :( I can read just fine, but small details are fuzzy and I can't make graphics/icons with fuzzy eyes.
out_there (out_there) wrote2025-12-09 03:07 pm
out_there) wrote2025-12-09 03:07 pmEntry tags:
Rec: We Better Make a Start (Stranger Things, Steve/Eddie)
It is summer! It is finally, finally summer! I am wearing a cotton dress and the window is open and there's sunshine outside. I slept without a heater on and when I got up in the morning to let the dogs out, I didn't need to grab a jumper against the chill. It is warm and bright and man, November was so grey and chilly I'd almost given up on the sheer happiness that comes from warm weather and fresh air.
Also, we've got through November month end, so it's just three weeks until Christmas break, time for work to slow down and life to be good. (By "slow down", I mean there are still tasks to do but we can take our time, iron out the little issues and turn off the laptop at 5.30pm without guilt or looming deadlines. December really is my favourite time of year.)
...having said that, we're out of dog food so I'll have to go to the shops tonight. Fingers crossed 6pm on a Tuesday will be quiet, because weekend shopping has already hit that Christmas crowds thing where it's all a bit much.
In the spirit of sharing things that bring you joy, I've been enjoying Steve/Eddie Stranger Things stories lately, and I have to rec this one. It was recced byrunpunkrun and it's an absolute joy. Himbo!Steve and teenage make-out sessions and Steve and Robin as BFFs:
We Better Make a Start (11087 words) by thefourthvine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Himbo Steve Harrington, First Time, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Podfic Available
Summary:
And then I discovered this podfic of it, which is an utter delight. I listened to it driving home last night and honestly wished my commute was longer so I could keep listening:
[podfic] We Better Make a Start (45 words) by reena_jenkins
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley
Additional Tags: Podfic, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Post-Season/Series 04, Himbo Steve Harrington, First Time, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends
Summary:
Also, we've got through November month end, so it's just three weeks until Christmas break, time for work to slow down and life to be good. (By "slow down", I mean there are still tasks to do but we can take our time, iron out the little issues and turn off the laptop at 5.30pm without guilt or looming deadlines. December really is my favourite time of year.)
...having said that, we're out of dog food so I'll have to go to the shops tonight. Fingers crossed 6pm on a Tuesday will be quiet, because weekend shopping has already hit that Christmas crowds thing where it's all a bit much.
In the spirit of sharing things that bring you joy, I've been enjoying Steve/Eddie Stranger Things stories lately, and I have to rec this one. It was recced by
runpunkrun and it's an absolute joy. Himbo!Steve and teenage make-out sessions and Steve and Robin as BFFs:We Better Make a Start (11087 words) by thefourthvine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Himbo Steve Harrington, First Time, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Podfic Available
Summary:
As soon as Eddie gets to the counter, Steve turns to him and says, “Back me up here. Kissing is no big deal, right?”
Steve Harrington is talking about kissing. Eddie’s brain shorts out. “Uh,” he says.
And then I discovered this podfic of it, which is an utter delight. I listened to it driving home last night and honestly wished my commute was longer so I could keep listening:
[podfic] We Better Make a Start (45 words) by reena_jenkins
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley
Additional Tags: Podfic, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Post-Season/Series 04, Himbo Steve Harrington, First Time, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends
Summary:
As soon as Eddie gets to the counter, Steve turns to him and says, “Back me up here. Kissing is no big deal, right?”
Steve Harrington is talking about kissing. Eddie’s brain shorts out. “Uh,” he says.
my love, I am the speed of sound (newredshoes) wrote2025-12-08 01:11 pm
newredshoes) wrote2025-12-08 01:11 pmFuture's — made of — temporary insanity
Okay, I really thought my crafting hyperfixation of the month was going to be beading on a loom. Earlier this year, I picked up a book about it, thanks to a need to spend over $10 at a thrift store, and then a few weeks ago, I saw a plastic bead loom at Michael's and nabbed it. Obviously from there, I realized the kit was not sufficient for My Vision, so I headed back to Michael's and dropped a truly silly amount on beads and weird needles. Have I started beading, which I'm excited to do? No, obviously first I have to clean off my crafting table, which involves SO much organizing, purging and Gingko-wrangling, so she doesn't eat or destroy any of the above.
Then, over Thanksgiving, YouTube slammed me with an unexpected interest.![[youtube.com profile]](https://youtube.com/favicon.ico)
yooon_ie lives in Chicago, apparently close enough to the West Loop Goodwill that she can stop by often enough to pounce when she finds a vintage Coach bag in the wild. Her parents are a cobbler and a tailor, according to her telling, and she's got all kinds of amazing skills and know-how for taking these designer objects in tragic condition and rehabilitating them in a flash.
I am fascinated. It's related to the emotional satisfaction one gets watching a pet groomer rescue a terribly matted stray from neglect, though with less body horror. There are so many videos out there; I definitely spent more than one evening just working my way through everyone's shorts, which all follow the same pattern with the same ASMR. And so, the urge rises: I want to experience this! I want to find a mistreated designer bag for $8.99 in a back rack at Goodwill and treat myself to Real Luxury Like They Used to Make! I've never been a bag girlie or even a girly girlie. This, like my sudden realization that makeup is fun, actually, is all very new on my end.
Here is the problem: Because it is maximum load USPS season, everything I'm splurging on is very slow to come in the mail. I can spend the money and absolutely nothing about it is real because it is taking two weeks to get here. I became briefly insane last Sunday and decided it was worth it to buy a new bag from Coach Factory, and the delivery date keeps dropping back, and like!! Then I remembered DePop was a thing and immediately stayed up until 2 AM this Saturday bookmarking candidates (because I spent the weekend exploring varying thrift stores and coming to understand that thrifting is a persistence predator's game). Yesterday I tried out the "make an offer" button and then the seller accepted basically immediately?? So I DO have a glorious vintage '90s minimalist Coach purse (Swinger in black!) coming my way, for too much money STILL because of fees, but Amazon has not come through on my freaking saddle soap/horsehair brush/Leather CPR order, so obviously nothing exists until I can see it and hold it in my hands!!! And even then!!!!!
I am but a humble public media journalist, my poor bank account cannot take this ADHD object-permanence nonsense. All of this absolutely did start because my therapist poked me in the forehead and reminded me that it is good, in fact, to treat yourself and that it is hard to do things like date (more on that another time!) when you feel like a feral gremlin all the time. (That said, I do have a story in mind about this bag rehabber community that I hope to publish for Mother's Day, so maybe I can write it off for my taxes at some point.)
All of this does fall a bit into perspective given the real ballgame I'm warming up for: This morning, I spent an hour with a realtor who's going to help me, fingers crossed, Buy a Condo in the next few months. Speaking of money that absolutely isn't and cannot be real to me. But she's got sassy realtor energy and I am really excited to get started For Real on this search. ✶
Then, over Thanksgiving, YouTube slammed me with an unexpected interest.
I am fascinated. It's related to the emotional satisfaction one gets watching a pet groomer rescue a terribly matted stray from neglect, though with less body horror. There are so many videos out there; I definitely spent more than one evening just working my way through everyone's shorts, which all follow the same pattern with the same ASMR. And so, the urge rises: I want to experience this! I want to find a mistreated designer bag for $8.99 in a back rack at Goodwill and treat myself to Real Luxury Like They Used to Make! I've never been a bag girlie or even a girly girlie. This, like my sudden realization that makeup is fun, actually, is all very new on my end.
Here is the problem: Because it is maximum load USPS season, everything I'm splurging on is very slow to come in the mail. I can spend the money and absolutely nothing about it is real because it is taking two weeks to get here. I became briefly insane last Sunday and decided it was worth it to buy a new bag from Coach Factory, and the delivery date keeps dropping back, and like!! Then I remembered DePop was a thing and immediately stayed up until 2 AM this Saturday bookmarking candidates (because I spent the weekend exploring varying thrift stores and coming to understand that thrifting is a persistence predator's game). Yesterday I tried out the "make an offer" button and then the seller accepted basically immediately?? So I DO have a glorious vintage '90s minimalist Coach purse (Swinger in black!) coming my way, for too much money STILL because of fees, but Amazon has not come through on my freaking saddle soap/horsehair brush/Leather CPR order, so obviously nothing exists until I can see it and hold it in my hands!!! And even then!!!!!
I am but a humble public media journalist, my poor bank account cannot take this ADHD object-permanence nonsense. All of this absolutely did start because my therapist poked me in the forehead and reminded me that it is good, in fact, to treat yourself and that it is hard to do things like date (more on that another time!) when you feel like a feral gremlin all the time. (That said, I do have a story in mind about this bag rehabber community that I hope to publish for Mother's Day, so maybe I can write it off for my taxes at some point.)
All of this does fall a bit into perspective given the real ballgame I'm warming up for: This morning, I spent an hour with a realtor who's going to help me, fingers crossed, Buy a Condo in the next few months. Speaking of money that absolutely isn't and cannot be real to me. But she's got sassy realtor energy and I am really excited to get started For Real on this search. ✶
camwyn (camwyn) wrote2025-12-08 01:40 pm
camwyn) wrote2025-12-08 01:40 pmEntry tags:
(no subject)
Just read a NYT headline about how it looks like the Supreme Court is prepared to hand Donald Trump more power to fire whoever he wants.
Also just accidentally knocked over a box of satin pins, did not realize what I had knocked over, and stepped down. Barefoot.
Guess which I'd rather repeat.
Also just accidentally knocked over a box of satin pins, did not realize what I had knocked over, and stepped down. Barefoot.
Guess which I'd rather repeat.
Humph (spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-08 04:42 pm
spiralsheep) wrote2025-12-08 04:42 pmEntry tags:
In which there are quotes, notes, and anecdotes
- Overheard on the bus: woman on the bus talking LOUDLY about when the fire brigade had come round to deal with a vibrator under her bed, and all the passengers pricked up their ears but were disappointed to learn that the "vibrator" is a fire alarm because she's deaf. And it was lucky for me I was getting off at the next stop so I could laugh uproariously for several minutes without embarrassing everyone.
- Reading: my library-based A-Z author read through challenge has been going well but it looks as if I might end up reading Julia Quinn for Q (probably not my thing), and I suspect I'll get stuck on X and Z unless I go to a bigger library with more translations.
- Current reading quotes, on lawyers:
"We failed," I said.
He laughed. "Well sometimes you'd like to commit an international crime, but you can't pull it off. No problemo. Give me a call when you do."
- Health advice, fungal nail infections: most fungal nail infections (and some ingrowing toenails caused by invisible infections) can be cured by painting white vinegar on the nail bed (and around the edges to be thorough). Vinegar stings on open wounds so avoid those and dilute it with water if necessary. One application will probably kill the fungus at the nail bed but viable fungal spores tend to lurk in socks, shoes, and bedding, so an occasional re-application after bathing or as part of regular weekly / monthly footcare routine are advisable. Remember it takes toenails up to 18 months to grow out so you won't see the full improvement immediately. White vinegar also has no side-effects: external application won't ruin your digestive system, or breed a resistant super-fungus. I have to wonder when this simple solution stopped being common knowledge and some people swapped to expensive and potentially dangerous drugs instead.
- Consumer advice, UK holiday rentals: don't rent through Sykes Cottages or any of their accursed shell companies, all based in Chester whatever region they claim to be representing, because their terms and conditions remove any consumer rights you have under UK law. They can legally take your money and give you nothing at all in exchange, or rent you an unfit property that nearly kills you, or whatever. You don't have to take my word for this because Which? warn against them (27%, more than 1 in 4, Which? subscribers, the most savvy group of consumers in the UK, who'd used Sykes had serious unresolved problems with them). There's also an anti-Sykes group on facebook with thousands of members, and growing. I thought everyone knew this but apparently not (someone I know nearly died and lost £900 in a Sykes rental with no refund and no recourse in law).
- Reading: my library-based A-Z author read through challenge has been going well but it looks as if I might end up reading Julia Quinn for Q (probably not my thing), and I suspect I'll get stuck on X and Z unless I go to a bigger library with more translations.
- Current reading quotes, on lawyers:
"We failed," I said.
He laughed. "Well sometimes you'd like to commit an international crime, but you can't pull it off. No problemo. Give me a call when you do."
- Health advice, fungal nail infections: most fungal nail infections (and some ingrowing toenails caused by invisible infections) can be cured by painting white vinegar on the nail bed (and around the edges to be thorough). Vinegar stings on open wounds so avoid those and dilute it with water if necessary. One application will probably kill the fungus at the nail bed but viable fungal spores tend to lurk in socks, shoes, and bedding, so an occasional re-application after bathing or as part of regular weekly / monthly footcare routine are advisable. Remember it takes toenails up to 18 months to grow out so you won't see the full improvement immediately. White vinegar also has no side-effects: external application won't ruin your digestive system, or breed a resistant super-fungus. I have to wonder when this simple solution stopped being common knowledge and some people swapped to expensive and potentially dangerous drugs instead.
- Consumer advice, UK holiday rentals: don't rent through Sykes Cottages or any of their accursed shell companies, all based in Chester whatever region they claim to be representing, because their terms and conditions remove any consumer rights you have under UK law. They can legally take your money and give you nothing at all in exchange, or rent you an unfit property that nearly kills you, or whatever. You don't have to take my word for this because Which? warn against them (27%, more than 1 in 4, Which? subscribers, the most savvy group of consumers in the UK, who'd used Sykes had serious unresolved problems with them). There's also an anti-Sykes group on facebook with thousands of members, and growing. I thought everyone knew this but apparently not (someone I know nearly died and lost £900 in a Sykes rental with no refund and no recourse in law).
skygiants (skygiants) wrote2025-12-07 07:44 pm
skygiants) wrote2025-12-07 07:44 pmEntry tags:
(no subject)
The other movie I saw recently -- not on a plane! but in a real theater! -- was Guillermo del Toro's ( Frankenstein (do I need to spoiler cut this? well, let's be safe) )
laurajv (laurajv) wrote2025-12-06 05:10 pm
laurajv) wrote2025-12-06 05:10 pmEntry tags:
FIC: The View from T'Khut (Complete).
The View from T'Khut (50669 words) by Laura JV
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Spock/Nyota Uhura, James T. Kirk/Spock, Sarek & Spock (Star Trek), Spock & Spock Prime, James T. Kirk & Spock
Characters: Spock (Star Trek), Spock Prime, James T. Kirk, Nyota Uhura, T'Pau (Star Trek), Sarek (Star Trek), Vulcan Characters (Star Trek), Crew of the Starship Enterprise
Additional Tags: Vulcan Culture (Star Trek), Vulcan Mind Melds (Star Trek), Vulcan Language (Star Trek), jj abrams should be ashamed of himself, Vulcan history, Vulcan mythology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, symbiotic red algae
Series: Part 1 of The View from T'Khut
Summary:
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Spock/Nyota Uhura, James T. Kirk/Spock, Sarek & Spock (Star Trek), Spock & Spock Prime, James T. Kirk & Spock
Characters: Spock (Star Trek), Spock Prime, James T. Kirk, Nyota Uhura, T'Pau (Star Trek), Sarek (Star Trek), Vulcan Characters (Star Trek), Crew of the Starship Enterprise
Additional Tags: Vulcan Culture (Star Trek), Vulcan Mind Melds (Star Trek), Vulcan Language (Star Trek), jj abrams should be ashamed of himself, Vulcan history, Vulcan mythology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, symbiotic red algae
Series: Part 1 of The View from T'Khut
Summary:
Part I: The Absent World. The planet vanishes, but her people go on.
Part II: An Archaeology of Loss. The world-death left a scar in spacetime, and a void in the heart of the Federation.
Part III: Time and Darkness. In which Ambassador Spock fires unexpected shots.
genarti (genarti) wrote2025-12-06 03:29 pm
genarti) wrote2025-12-06 03:29 pmEntry tags:
New story in anthology -- out now!
I have various longer posts to make (job transition news, a write-up of a truly hilarious theater experience, etc), but in the meantime, a quick post to let you know that the Murderfish anthology, which I have a story in, is now officially out and available for purchase!
Murderfish is, as it says on the tin, an anthology of stories about murderous fish. (Its predecessors were Murderbirds and Murderbugs, which cracks me up every time I think about it.) Each story features a different kind of sea life, as well as very cool art of them all! I haven't read all the rest yet, but I'm excited to, and it looks like there are a whole lot of genres involved. My story, "In Sheets of Seaweed," is about a woman in the simultaneously privileged and precarious position of being a prince's mistress, who dreams increasingly of sharks calling to her; I called it my "shark selkie" story for a long time before I thought of a title, and in fact after. I'm very fond of this story, and I'm delighted it's found a home at last.
The ebook is available here and the paperback here. The audiobook is coming soon, but hasn't been unveiled quite yet.
Those are both Amazon links, though not affiliate ones. If you're like me and prefer to avoid buying things through Amazon, full support, but for the moment that's all I have. I've asked if it'll be available on other sites as well, and I'll update when I get an answer.
Murderfish is, as it says on the tin, an anthology of stories about murderous fish. (Its predecessors were Murderbirds and Murderbugs, which cracks me up every time I think about it.) Each story features a different kind of sea life, as well as very cool art of them all! I haven't read all the rest yet, but I'm excited to, and it looks like there are a whole lot of genres involved. My story, "In Sheets of Seaweed," is about a woman in the simultaneously privileged and precarious position of being a prince's mistress, who dreams increasingly of sharks calling to her; I called it my "shark selkie" story for a long time before I thought of a title, and in fact after. I'm very fond of this story, and I'm delighted it's found a home at last.
The ebook is available here and the paperback here. The audiobook is coming soon, but hasn't been unveiled quite yet.
Those are both Amazon links, though not affiliate ones. If you're like me and prefer to avoid buying things through Amazon, full support, but for the moment that's all I have. I've asked if it'll be available on other sites as well, and I'll update when I get an answer.
skygiants (skygiants) wrote2025-12-06 01:33 pm
skygiants) wrote2025-12-06 01:33 pmEntry tags:
(no subject)
I am home! with my own cats! and my own computer!! This is very exciting because I have spent most of the last two weeks traveling, including last Monday when I spent about 24 hours total stumbling through different airports getting rerouted onto different flights before finally getting to achieve my dearest wish at that point, Be Horizontal.
In the course of that extremely long day I watched two French movies on planes:
( Au revoir là-haut/See You Up There )
( La venue de l'avenir/Colors of Time )
In the course of that extremely long day I watched two French movies on planes:
( Au revoir là-haut/See You Up There )
( La venue de l'avenir/Colors of Time )
Renay (renay) wrote2025-12-06 12:47 am
renay) wrote2025-12-06 12:47 amEntry tags:
Rec-Cember Day #5
My partner wanted to catch up on Stranger Things so we can watch the finale. I suspect the Duffer Brothers and I are destined for a breakup after this show is over, although I do appreciate some of the book references.
Today's Rec:
Sailing With Phoenix
Over the summer, a dude started sailing solo from Oregon to Hawai'i on a sailboat with his cat. He came across my TikTok FYP randomly, about a week into his trip. He has a whole Youtube channel documenting his decision to go, leaving his job, buying the boat, prepping the boat, and then the actual journey. He's since decided to get a new boat and sail non-stop around the world, and is documenting that journey. My autistic self was immediately charmed by him. And I learned a lot about boats and sailing (I love when people get intensely into a special interest and share it with people.) He has short form content on his TikTok but I really like the longer form videos and how he builds the narrative over time on Youtube.
Today's Rec:
Sailing With Phoenix
Over the summer, a dude started sailing solo from Oregon to Hawai'i on a sailboat with his cat. He came across my TikTok FYP randomly, about a week into his trip. He has a whole Youtube channel documenting his decision to go, leaving his job, buying the boat, prepping the boat, and then the actual journey. He's since decided to get a new boat and sail non-stop around the world, and is documenting that journey. My autistic self was immediately charmed by him. And I learned a lot about boats and sailing (I love when people get intensely into a special interest and share it with people.) He has short form content on his TikTok but I really like the longer form videos and how he builds the narrative over time on Youtube.