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shipperslist) wrote2025-06-17 05:57 pm
shipperslist) wrote2025-06-17 05:57 pm
flamingsword (flamingsword) wrote2025-06-17 06:41 am
flamingsword) wrote2025-06-17 06:41 amFriend’s mom died
Yesterday died in a fire. I lit that match myself.
My friend’s mom died at like 5 AM yesterday, I’m behind where I need to be on homework, and I got a good massage with a lot of neck and shoulder work but then immediately got another headache when I got home which the whole point was to keep the headache from coming back. Bc of course.
So:
• I’m going back on the anti-illness protocol for headaches from sinus infection, and seeing if that helps: use of tea tree oil aromatherapy inhaler every hour for the next few days; lots of pumpkin seeds in case this is viral in nature; using a neti pot at least once a day which I should do now, probably.
• I made some calls and did some internet things when my friend’s power and internet went out yesterday (bc of course) and helped her get set up with whole body donation. I may ping her once a day with a puppy meme, or other short way to say she is loved and cared for, but right now her instinct is to hole up and lick her wounds, and I respect that.
• It is time to get out of my comfortable bed and do a bunch of homework.
Meow. 🐱 Fuck yesterday and fuck today, too.
My friend’s mom died at like 5 AM yesterday, I’m behind where I need to be on homework, and I got a good massage with a lot of neck and shoulder work but then immediately got another headache when I got home which the whole point was to keep the headache from coming back. Bc of course.
So:
• I’m going back on the anti-illness protocol for headaches from sinus infection, and seeing if that helps: use of tea tree oil aromatherapy inhaler every hour for the next few days; lots of pumpkin seeds in case this is viral in nature; using a neti pot at least once a day which I should do now, probably.
• I made some calls and did some internet things when my friend’s power and internet went out yesterday (bc of course) and helped her get set up with whole body donation. I may ping her once a day with a puppy meme, or other short way to say she is loved and cared for, but right now her instinct is to hole up and lick her wounds, and I respect that.
• It is time to get out of my comfortable bed and do a bunch of homework.
Meow. 🐱 Fuck yesterday and fuck today, too.
conuly (conuly) wrote2025-06-20 02:24 am
conuly) wrote2025-06-20 02:24 amGuess who's working the election next week!
I honestly should stop by the ETG thrift store and see if I can get a different dress, though - my options are long pants and sleeves, or a bright red dress, which seems... well, anyway. It's a great dress in most other contexts, though. (Maybe a skirt? I could find a skirt and a nice short-sleeved top? Then again, if this weather continues the way it has been I might be better off bundled up! It's mid-June and my heater is on.)
*************
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Sholio (sholio) wrote2025-06-16 10:38 pm
sholio) wrote2025-06-16 10:38 pmEntry tags:
Recent Babylon 5 ficlets from various places
1. Vir and Delenn
From the "Only One Bed" meme (which at the moment has gone the way of most of my attempts at memes, alas), for a request for Vir and anyone.
( 700 words of Vir and Delenn )
2. Basking Narns
Posted as commentfic as a result of a comment discussion about cool-blooded Narns. (Also posted on Tumblr.)
( 400 words of basking Narns and Londo not being normal about it )
3. Ta'Lon and Vir
From a request on Tumblr for anything about Ta'Lon which actually ended up being not that much about Ta'Lon and more about the new ambassadors post-canon.
( 1000 words of Ta'Lon and Vir )
From the "Only One Bed" meme (which at the moment has gone the way of most of my attempts at memes, alas), for a request for Vir and anyone.
( 700 words of Vir and Delenn )
2. Basking Narns
Posted as commentfic as a result of a comment discussion about cool-blooded Narns. (Also posted on Tumblr.)
( 400 words of basking Narns and Londo not being normal about it )
3. Ta'Lon and Vir
From a request on Tumblr for anything about Ta'Lon which actually ended up being not that much about Ta'Lon and more about the new ambassadors post-canon.
( 1000 words of Ta'Lon and Vir )
Annie D (scaramouche) wrote2025-06-16 01:05 pm
scaramouche) wrote2025-06-16 01:05 pm
Entry tags:
Chucky (TV)
I have finished Chucky season 2, what a fun time! Not a strong start for me, because I found the season's set-up of Jake, Lexy and Devon getting sent to a Catholic boarding school in lieu of going to juvie somewhat hackneyed, plus I don't care much for the use of Christian symbols and themes in this particular franchise, but then! Character work! (Which I'd missed at the end of season 1.) Jake and Devon get to have character-driven conflict! Devon gets to be angry and express it! Jake is distracted by his own guilt! Lexy gets crunchy emotional stuff with her addiction and via their friendship with the new adorable character of Nadine! Yum yum yum.
So it's all about being orphans and the fallout of when parents let their kids down. The first three Child's Play movies were entirely about this: traumatized children who are not believed or protected by their parents/guardians, so the show coming back to that and setting it in a Catholic institution is a bit too on the nose for me, but I did very much enjoy the trio getting to fully mirror Andy and Kyle's experience as children lost in the system and eventual turning to violence in order to find meaning (violence against Chucky, but violence all the same), and that mirror going all the way to the finale where everyone gets their catharsis, and Andy and Kyle gaze upon on the trio and are glad that at least they get to grow up without the fear of Chucky hanging over them.
Which is why I wish the show ended right there, with that oh so satisfying win. That was a great murder of Chucky that Andy did! (Were his gunshots meant to mirror how Chucky was shot to death in the first Child's Play, only Andy is his own hero now?) Episode 7 is such a banger, and allowing everyone to vocalize their fears and regrets just gives so much emotional weight around the horror camp elements, what a great balance.
But this being a horror franchise and the show having been renewed, that's not the end and the trio get to be traumatized some more. :(
Other stuff:
So it's all about being orphans and the fallout of when parents let their kids down. The first three Child's Play movies were entirely about this: traumatized children who are not believed or protected by their parents/guardians, so the show coming back to that and setting it in a Catholic institution is a bit too on the nose for me, but I did very much enjoy the trio getting to fully mirror Andy and Kyle's experience as children lost in the system and eventual turning to violence in order to find meaning (violence against Chucky, but violence all the same), and that mirror going all the way to the finale where everyone gets their catharsis, and Andy and Kyle gaze upon on the trio and are glad that at least they get to grow up without the fear of Chucky hanging over them.
Which is why I wish the show ended right there, with that oh so satisfying win. That was a great murder of Chucky that Andy did! (Were his gunshots meant to mirror how Chucky was shot to death in the first Child's Play, only Andy is his own hero now?) Episode 7 is such a banger, and allowing everyone to vocalize their fears and regrets just gives so much emotional weight around the horror camp elements, what a great balance.
But this being a horror franchise and the show having been renewed, that's not the end and the trio get to be traumatized some more. :(
Other stuff:
- The absurdity of Devon Sawa returning to the show as a brand new character after being killed off twice in season 1 is fantastic. I also think I laughed the hardest at the prep montage where Father Bryce changed his cassock solely to show off his abs.
- Good Chucky was such a fun little gimmick and, besides being fun in itself, I like how it informed Jake's grappling with his own guilt and projecting his hopes that if one of the Chuckys could be redeemed, maybe Jake can, too. Brad Dourif's voice work with Good Chucky is phenomenal. I cared less for the other two Chucky variants, though.
- Lexy's little sister Caroline was so much more interesting in the season opener, and I was bummed that we didn't get much more of her, though it looks like she might have a bigger role in season 3. (Unless the show is going to further push how young their victims can be.)
- Jennifer Tilly was way more delightful this season, I think because having Tiffany at odds with Chucky is just more interesting for longer arcs, plus the very fascinating tonal dissonance between her being charming and having her own insecurities, while at the same time doing such monstrous things to Nica and, as revealed this season, Chuckyverse!Jennifer Tilly.
- Sadly, I did not care for Glen and Glenda. It felt like Mancini had trapped himself with the vague ending of Seed of Chucky, and the machinations to get the twins out of the way felt more contrived than anything else. I think my main issue is that I could not buy Glen and Glenda's characterization as relatively normal teenagers despite having been raised by goddamned Tiffany Valentine.
- The meta episode where Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, etc. were at Tiffany's house for the twins' birthday, is a fun gimmick but some of the gags were a bit much, a bit too Seed of Chucky for me. Loved seeing Meg Tilly, though! .
- Sister Catherine as a legitimately normal and kind character really grounded the season. Same goes for the sincerity of emotions in the Christmas finale between the trio and Lexy's mom. You need that sincerity when there's OTT horror-comedy going on everywhere else, plus the breath of fresh air that is an adult who does want to protect the kids and listen to them.
- Freddie Lounds! Okay well, it's Lara Jean Chorostecki as Sister Ruth, a bit part that I WISH was bigger because, what a weird character who's so hungry for praise and to feel special, that she could've been pulled into the Chucky conspiracy but her quirkiness only ended up maneuvering her into becoming fodder.
- Nadine is a great new character, what a great actress, and I'm glad they added her in to give someone for Lexy to bond with, though I did say out loud at two different points, "Oh she's a goner." And then... yeah.
- Nica, sadly, I feel was kind of just... there. I think this is an unfortunately natural progression from her role in season 1, where she's cordoned off from the other storylines and trapped with Tiffany. I wonder also if this is a consequence of her two movies (Curse and Cult) being straight up horror, and the aftermath of that leaving her in a situation so awful that there's no place for levity, let alone relief. The only connections she makes are with the twins, and later Andy and Kyle, but they're so brief and don't break her out of her (and her story's) isolation. The status quo finally ends in season 2 with her freedom, so I'm hopeful for more interesting things for her to do in the next season.
snickfic (snickfic) wrote2025-06-15 08:52 pm
snickfic) wrote2025-06-15 08:52 pmEntry tags:
Movie roundup!
Sinners (2025). Twin brothers return from organized crime in Chicago to open an all-Black juke joint in their hometown in Mississipi with their cousin Sammie playing the blues as entertainment, and then vampires.
I held off reviewing this after I saw it the first time because I wanted to process and see it again, and honestly after seeing a second time I don't know what I can possibly add to what's already been said. This is an absolutely gorgeous movie, amazing music, all the acting is great, all the relationships are compelling. Director Ryan Coogler has packed so many interesting historical angles and so many themes that it's a challenge to unpack them all, but a fun challenge. I am especially compelled by all the depictions of religion, Christan and otherwise, and how that intersects with the spiritual power of music as depicted in the film.
Some bits I particularly liked:
- The Chinese immigrants running stores in the Mississippi delta
- The difficult and heart-breaking situation of Hailee Steinfeld's character, who is one-eight Black
- How much Ryan Coogler loves cunnilingus
- Stack's hand tremors, presumably from WWI nerve gas
- How incredibly shippy the MBJ twins are. "You're the best part of me" and "I'm nothing without you." !!!
- The fact that it's set in 1932 and the Depression isn't mentioned even once, presumably because these people's lives were already scraped to the bone. (This movie has got to be Coogler's response to O Brother Where Art Thou, right? Also set in Mississippi during the depression, also full of diagetic music, also featuring the Klan, there's even a scene here driving along the road passing a chain gang. The Black blues player in that movie could BE Sammie Moore from Sinners; even the timeline would line up okay.)
Anyway, this movie is incredible. You absolutely should see it.
--
Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (2021). German psychedelic horror(?) film. The official one-line blurb is something like "A couple visit the rundown castle they've inherited and become trapped in the reality that only exists within its walls," which sounds very cosmic horror, and I guess maybe it's not NOT that? But boy is it a lot of other things too. There might be reincarnating gods? At one point ( spoiler ) and then there's another hour of movie.
It's very low-budget and definitely not what I came for, but it's a trip. Comps might be Triangle if it gave up on trying to make sense or, from a different angle, A Bucket of Blood (1959). If this sounds like your jam, it's worth giving a try.
--
Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025). A young woman visiting the grand opening of Not The Space Needle in the 60s has a premonition of disaster and saves the lives of everyone there; decades later, her granddaughter starts have recurring nightmares of that night and realizes that death is coming for her and all her family members who should never have been born.
This is my first FD movie, which I saw solely on the logic that it was free (or "free," because I have a Regal subscription) and I needed something fun and cheesy. And this was indeed that! All the characters were reasonably likeable, and some of the deaths were quite inventive. This movie makes a LOT of hay out of body piercings, and the entire sequence with the MRI machine was inspired. I also really enjoyed everything with the long opening sequence in the 60s and found the young woman very charming. That was probably my favorite part of the movie, actually.
I would not say this was a good movie. For one thing, I have become That Horror Fan, because I found a lot of the CGI pretty annoying and kept wishing for some practical effects for the deaths. I also was entirely unpersuaded by the poor man's version of Laurie Strode and family from Halloween 2018. The generational trauma was all tell, no show, and even the plot logistics with the grandma didn't make a lot of sense given other information we have.
Still, yeah, a cheesy fun time.
I held off reviewing this after I saw it the first time because I wanted to process and see it again, and honestly after seeing a second time I don't know what I can possibly add to what's already been said. This is an absolutely gorgeous movie, amazing music, all the acting is great, all the relationships are compelling. Director Ryan Coogler has packed so many interesting historical angles and so many themes that it's a challenge to unpack them all, but a fun challenge. I am especially compelled by all the depictions of religion, Christan and otherwise, and how that intersects with the spiritual power of music as depicted in the film.
Some bits I particularly liked:
- The Chinese immigrants running stores in the Mississippi delta
- The difficult and heart-breaking situation of Hailee Steinfeld's character, who is one-eight Black
- How much Ryan Coogler loves cunnilingus
- Stack's hand tremors, presumably from WWI nerve gas
- How incredibly shippy the MBJ twins are. "You're the best part of me" and "I'm nothing without you." !!!
- The fact that it's set in 1932 and the Depression isn't mentioned even once, presumably because these people's lives were already scraped to the bone. (This movie has got to be Coogler's response to O Brother Where Art Thou, right? Also set in Mississippi during the depression, also full of diagetic music, also featuring the Klan, there's even a scene here driving along the road passing a chain gang. The Black blues player in that movie could BE Sammie Moore from Sinners; even the timeline would line up okay.)
Anyway, this movie is incredible. You absolutely should see it.
--
Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (2021). German psychedelic horror(?) film. The official one-line blurb is something like "A couple visit the rundown castle they've inherited and become trapped in the reality that only exists within its walls," which sounds very cosmic horror, and I guess maybe it's not NOT that? But boy is it a lot of other things too. There might be reincarnating gods? At one point ( spoiler ) and then there's another hour of movie.
It's very low-budget and definitely not what I came for, but it's a trip. Comps might be Triangle if it gave up on trying to make sense or, from a different angle, A Bucket of Blood (1959). If this sounds like your jam, it's worth giving a try.
--
Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025). A young woman visiting the grand opening of Not The Space Needle in the 60s has a premonition of disaster and saves the lives of everyone there; decades later, her granddaughter starts have recurring nightmares of that night and realizes that death is coming for her and all her family members who should never have been born.
This is my first FD movie, which I saw solely on the logic that it was free (or "free," because I have a Regal subscription) and I needed something fun and cheesy. And this was indeed that! All the characters were reasonably likeable, and some of the deaths were quite inventive. This movie makes a LOT of hay out of body piercings, and the entire sequence with the MRI machine was inspired. I also really enjoyed everything with the long opening sequence in the 60s and found the young woman very charming. That was probably my favorite part of the movie, actually.
I would not say this was a good movie. For one thing, I have become That Horror Fan, because I found a lot of the CGI pretty annoying and kept wishing for some practical effects for the deaths. I also was entirely unpersuaded by the poor man's version of Laurie Strode and family from Halloween 2018. The generational trauma was all tell, no show, and even the plot logistics with the grandma didn't make a lot of sense given other information we have.
Still, yeah, a cheesy fun time.
flamingsword (flamingsword) wrote2025-06-15 05:15 pm
flamingsword) wrote2025-06-15 05:15 pmEntry tags:
*worries*
A friend’s mom is in the hospital with possible complications from a stroke, and friend lost her dad a couple years ago. I’m not sure what I’m hoping for other than miracles of medical science. Do I hope that if she passes, then she passes around the same time as her husband, so that my friend only has a week or two of bad anniversaries? Or do I hope that she hangs in there to spread out the griefs, even though that would be a grinding misery all its own?
I am sending food to the hospital so that my friend doesn’t have to deal with getting food together or making decisions about anything but her mom’s care. I have offered other forms of support, but those she will have to choose when or whether to take me up on them.
*worries in a major key with discordant minor notes*
I am sending food to the hospital so that my friend doesn’t have to deal with getting food together or making decisions about anything but her mom’s care. I have offered other forms of support, but those she will have to choose when or whether to take me up on them.
*worries in a major key with discordant minor notes*
Ysabet (umadoshi) wrote2025-06-15 01:50 pm
umadoshi) wrote2025-06-15 01:50 pmEntry tags:
Weekly proof of life: mostly media, including a review of my history with Leverage
Eating: This weekend is scruloose's and my anniversary (year 22 is a go!), so last night we ordered Chinese roast duck and crispy pork belly and had half of it, with the rest set for supper tonight. Sous vide reheating works so well. This future is a complete nightmare in so many ways, but we sure do have cool kitchen technology. (Kitchen technology that spies on you, talks to the internet, and/or demands proof of your humanity is excluded from this praise.)
Reading: Two novels last week: Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus and Alix E. Harrow's Starling House. I parasocially adore Chuck Tingle as a person, but this was my first time reading any of his work, and it's very possible it'll be my only time, as I just plain didn't click with this one. I had a better time with Starling House (and it too was my first book by its author), but also didn't really bond.
I'm currently about halfway through Adrian Tchaikovsky's Service Model, and can definitely see why it gets compared to Murderbot from some angles, although the vibe is wildly different and I can't say I would've made the comparison myself. (Ginny noted approvingly that anything people dare compare to her beloved Murderbot has a high bar to reach, and she feels it's fair in this case.) But then, whatever the things are that make a book really click/resonate for me, they don't seem to have any connection to the things that make people draw comparisons. Too nebulous, I guess. Anyway, this is an interesting read so far.
Watching: Murderbot, of course. I liked last week's episode a lot. Besides that,scruloose and I saw ep. 2x02 of Kingdom [disambiguation: the historical Korean zombie show] and, for a change of pace, got back to watching the original Leverage.
Some of you may dimly recall that in the days before covid, there were a few years there where we and Ginny and Kas would go towildpear -and-family's place and watch TV on Sunday nights. We got through a couple of shows that way, and started in on Leverage, which I'd seen up to about halfway (?) through season 4 and then somehow wandered off from despite loving it, and otherwise only saw a couple of later episodes, including the series finale; Ginny had seen and adored the entire thing, and I think Kas was in the same camp as scruloose and wildpear and her then-partner and hadn't seen it.
We made it to...well, roughly halfway through season 4.wildpear's kidling, Pumpkin, was old enough by then to want in on what we were watching, so they sat in for TV night, just in time for "The Grave Danger Job", which freaked them out really, really badly (fair! That episode is brutal!). My mental timeline here is very fuzzy on how long that was before covid arrived, but it wasn't too big a gap, and all in all, that was the end of our group watch. And I still basically hadn't seen past somewhere in season 4 (plus the finale). I watched the first few episodes of season 1 of Leverage: Redemption when that came out, and with that, too, I wandered off and kept meaning to get back to it.
But last week,scruloose and I took the DVDs off the shelf and got back to it. We have now seen "The Boiler Room Job" (which I'm confident I'd seen before, but I wonder if I'll know for sure when I hit new-to-me episodes?). Hopefully this time I'll actually see it all through properly. In theory, at some point we'll get to have cognitive dissonance over Noah Wyle, which will be funny since Leverage: Redemption was where we first saw him but now my association with him is 95% The Pitt.
scruloose's and my anniversary (year 22 is a go!), so last night we ordered Chinese roast duck and crispy pork belly and had half of it, with the rest set for supper tonight. Sous vide reheating works so well. This future is a complete nightmare in so many ways, but we sure do have cool kitchen technology. (Kitchen technology that spies on you, talks to the internet, and/or demands proof of your humanity is excluded from this praise.)Reading: Two novels last week: Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus and Alix E. Harrow's Starling House. I parasocially adore Chuck Tingle as a person, but this was my first time reading any of his work, and it's very possible it'll be my only time, as I just plain didn't click with this one. I had a better time with Starling House (and it too was my first book by its author), but also didn't really bond.
I'm currently about halfway through Adrian Tchaikovsky's Service Model, and can definitely see why it gets compared to Murderbot from some angles, although the vibe is wildly different and I can't say I would've made the comparison myself. (Ginny noted approvingly that anything people dare compare to her beloved Murderbot has a high bar to reach, and she feels it's fair in this case.) But then, whatever the things are that make a book really click/resonate for me, they don't seem to have any connection to the things that make people draw comparisons. Too nebulous, I guess. Anyway, this is an interesting read so far.
Watching: Murderbot, of course. I liked last week's episode a lot. Besides that,
scruloose and I saw ep. 2x02 of Kingdom [disambiguation: the historical Korean zombie show] and, for a change of pace, got back to watching the original Leverage.Some of you may dimly recall that in the days before covid, there were a few years there where we and Ginny and Kas would go to
wildpear -and-family's place and watch TV on Sunday nights. We got through a couple of shows that way, and started in on Leverage, which I'd seen up to about halfway (?) through season 4 and then somehow wandered off from despite loving it, and otherwise only saw a couple of later episodes, including the series finale; Ginny had seen and adored the entire thing, and I think Kas was in the same camp as scruloose and wildpear and her then-partner and hadn't seen it.We made it to...well, roughly halfway through season 4.
wildpear's kidling, Pumpkin, was old enough by then to want in on what we were watching, so they sat in for TV night, just in time for "The Grave Danger Job", which freaked them out really, really badly (fair! That episode is brutal!). My mental timeline here is very fuzzy on how long that was before covid arrived, but it wasn't too big a gap, and all in all, that was the end of our group watch. And I still basically hadn't seen past somewhere in season 4 (plus the finale). I watched the first few episodes of season 1 of Leverage: Redemption when that came out, and with that, too, I wandered off and kept meaning to get back to it.But last week,
scruloose and I took the DVDs off the shelf and got back to it. We have now seen "The Boiler Room Job" (which I'm confident I'd seen before, but I wonder if I'll know for sure when I hit new-to-me episodes?). Hopefully this time I'll actually see it all through properly. In theory, at some point we'll get to have cognitive dissonance over Noah Wyle, which will be funny since Leverage: Redemption was where we first saw him but now my association with him is 95% The Pitt.
Muccamukk (muccamukk) wrote2025-06-15 08:29 am
muccamukk) wrote2025-06-15 08:29 amSabrina Carpenter album cover take
Ophie Dokie released us from the requirement to have one of these, but then linked to a video I thought was quite good (![[youtube.com profile]](https://youtube.com/favicon.ico)
BryonyClaire: Sabrina Carpenter has divided the internet - is satire dead?), and then I saw how it's been rolling out across the Internet. So here goes. ( cutting for the sake of people who are sick of this discourse. )
highlyeccentric (highlyeccentric) wrote2025-06-15 07:59 pm
highlyeccentric) wrote2025-06-15 07:59 pmListening Post: some things
Today's musical development is that courtesy of the world's least impressive dictactor parade, I have remembered that I actually like Credence Clearwater Revival. Figured out that the cassette tape we used to have in the car must have been Cosmo's Factory with a couple of tracks off Willy and the Poor Boys taped onto the end.
Instagram has been feeding me a trickle of interesting indie protest-song creators lately.
Consider Jesse Welles, who seems to be able to come up with a new political song within a day of every new twist the Trump administration disaster show. I do somewhat prefer his less "breaking news" work, for instance:
There's Malört & Savior, who have this rather catchy little track. Although what really strikes me is that they seem to be a fairly new band, and cerainly this was put out in the past month - but they SOUND like they walked straight out of 2009.
And there's Rain McMey, who has a few bangers going back a few years now, but this one delights me:
Podcasts, assorted recommendations:
The recent Bad Gays episode about Gavin Arthur was pretty fascinating.
I enjoy "Lions Led By Donkeys" frequently, and they had a thematically linked pair of interesting episodes recently: The Pastry War (also known as the first French Intervention in Mexico) and The War of the Oaken Bucket.
The most recent episode of Gender Reveal, with Alison Bechdel is great, generally, and has particularly interesting comments on the difference between memoir and fiction.
The Odd Lots podcast episode of last week, A Major American Egg Producer Just Lost 90% of its flock was fascinating. It's sort of a follow-up to Why are Eggs So Expensive of last year, which I also really appreciated (dangerous though: the cashier at my local service station convenience store wasn't expecting a mini-lecture on how long it takes to recover from a bird flu outbreak, or the impact which the fade-out of battery farms has). This time I was also particularly struck by the way Hickman talked about not being able to access vaccines - apparently the US exports vaccines to other countries who choose to vaccinate their laying flock, but US producers who WANT the vaccine can't get hands on it. He did not once mention the post-covid stakes in anti-vaccination policy, but you can kind of hear the outlines of it as he's talking. The other thing that was really clear is what an impact bird flu must have on the local economy - when Hickman's talking about the cost to the company of losing "institutional knowledge" and/or having to "hire back" the staff once the flock is re-established, that must mean that an outbreak means massive job losses.
The Behind the Bastards two-parter about Versailles was fascinating in its own right. I also, courtesy of a reminder somewhere in there that this is NOT a medieval system of administration, and courtesy of my own having figured out that the HSC modern history syllabus, which started "modernity" with the French revolution and absolutely did refer to the preceding regime as medieval, wasn't just lying-to-children, it was specifically drawing on the long duree, Marxist-leaning school of historical analysis - well put those two together and... oh, RIGHT. The reason the "palace complex" of Tamora Pierce's Tortall (or Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar) is so _bizarre_, economically speaking, is that their shared invisible template is _Versailles_. Combined with the 16th c English Chancery, certainly, and some influence from the Prussian War College.
Fiction:
I powered through Dimension 20's "Fantasy High: The Seven" and I loved it. Adorable! Now on to Fantasty High: Junior Year, which I am actually finding a little difficult as the early episodes have so much emphasis on how busy / under pressure everyone is. And the "your god is at risk of dying, you are her only believer, why aren't you evangelising for her?" storyline re Kristen is... uncomfortable. Maybe it's cathartic to Ally Beardsley, but it makes me feel squeamy.
Because I require MORE of Brennan Lee Mulligan in my ears, I found Worlds Beyond Number and am so far enjoying The Wizard, The Witch and the Wild One.
Instagram has been feeding me a trickle of interesting indie protest-song creators lately.
Consider Jesse Welles, who seems to be able to come up with a new political song within a day of every new twist the Trump administration disaster show. I do somewhat prefer his less "breaking news" work, for instance:
There's Malört & Savior, who have this rather catchy little track. Although what really strikes me is that they seem to be a fairly new band, and cerainly this was put out in the past month - but they SOUND like they walked straight out of 2009.
And there's Rain McMey, who has a few bangers going back a few years now, but this one delights me:
Podcasts, assorted recommendations:
Fiction:
flamingsword (flamingsword) wrote2025-06-15 06:18 am
flamingsword) wrote2025-06-15 06:18 amEntry tags:
Headaches again and 5wants/5needs
Yesterday the headache that I’ve had off and on since Wednesday came back at about 11 AM, so I got to go to a yarn swap but not the No Kings protest. I did call my congress-critters though and had my ex husband divert the extra money he wants to send me to bail funds and the ACLU.
Gonna try the 5 Wants / 5 Hidden Needs thing again.
( Read more... )
Gonna try the 5 Wants / 5 Hidden Needs thing again.
( Read more... )
luninosity (luninosity) wrote2025-06-15 02:44 am
luninosity) wrote2025-06-15 02:44 am
Entry tags:
Portraits release! and a 45% off sale!
“Portraits” is out now! And on sale for only $1.37 as part of the 45% off sale this weekend at my publisher JMS Books! The first of two bonus stories for Gareth and Lorre from Magician! (Feels like a weird day for book promo, but- reading queer romance = resistance! Love & hope!)
“Portraits” is the expanded (around a thousand words longer) version of the flash fic story I wrote for the JMS Books Love Is Free charity anthology! Here, Gareth and Lorre go to a museum, and discover a relic out of Lorre’s past…
Also, look at that gorgeous cover!
Muccamukk (muccamukk) wrote2025-06-14 09:24 pm
muccamukk) wrote2025-06-14 09:24 pmEntry tags:
Music Saturday
Surprisingly sapphic for Raye (who usually sings about relationships with men, but maybe she's bi?). I guess she was at World Pride? Hmm...
Annie D (scaramouche) wrote2025-06-15 10:07 am
scaramouche) wrote2025-06-15 10:07 am
Entry tags:
The Devil's Plan (& The Genius)
While casually browsing Netflix for something that could be playable out in the open while repairmen go around the house, I saw a Korean reality/game show The Devil's Plan. I clicked it and after a while went huh, the game vibes are similar to The Genius, which I very much enjoyed a few years ago. So I looked it up and oh, there's a creative team overlap, that makes sense!
So The Devil's Plan, although it opens melodramatically, it is almost the same format as The Genius in that there's complicated board-type games to play, and there is an accumulative currency ("pieces" in TDP, garnets in The Genius) gained through games that confers survival and other benefits in the long term. But the major difference between the two is that The Genius was played one day a week over multiple weeks, while The Devil's Plan is played continuously over a week while the players live together in the set over that time Big Brother style.
I wonder if what happened is that the makers of The Genius got the idea from seeing how some of the players (primarily season 2 onwards, is my impression) organically met up for dinner after recording sessions, where they socialised without game stress, analysed the games they just played, and worked out feelings that might have accumulated on-camera. I think I remember some of the players mentioning that some production staff joined them for those dinners as well, and from there maybe someone got the idea that these off-game sessions could be part of the show itself. Plus the shorter timeline really amps up the intensity of the game relationships and does not give the players true breaks to recover regular headspace.
I think it's really interesting that TDP season 1 isn't as cutthroat intense the way I remember season 2 and 3 of The Genius being, which you'd assume it would be considering that all the players MUST have watched The Genius and other similar shows beforehand. It might be the choice of the players themselves, but the show format itself has two games a day, where one game match has the players competing against each other, and another game that they have to win collectively, and the teamwork of that second game counters negative feelings that might have come out from the regular match. I liked that, I thought it was very clever! I also wonder if the living-in format also reduces drama since players have to spend ALL their time with each other, and Korean social community rules guide them into working out peaceable solutions.
( Cut for The Devil's Plan season 1 winner spoilers. )
So The Devil's Plan, although it opens melodramatically, it is almost the same format as The Genius in that there's complicated board-type games to play, and there is an accumulative currency ("pieces" in TDP, garnets in The Genius) gained through games that confers survival and other benefits in the long term. But the major difference between the two is that The Genius was played one day a week over multiple weeks, while The Devil's Plan is played continuously over a week while the players live together in the set over that time Big Brother style.
I wonder if what happened is that the makers of The Genius got the idea from seeing how some of the players (primarily season 2 onwards, is my impression) organically met up for dinner after recording sessions, where they socialised without game stress, analysed the games they just played, and worked out feelings that might have accumulated on-camera. I think I remember some of the players mentioning that some production staff joined them for those dinners as well, and from there maybe someone got the idea that these off-game sessions could be part of the show itself. Plus the shorter timeline really amps up the intensity of the game relationships and does not give the players true breaks to recover regular headspace.
I think it's really interesting that TDP season 1 isn't as cutthroat intense the way I remember season 2 and 3 of The Genius being, which you'd assume it would be considering that all the players MUST have watched The Genius and other similar shows beforehand. It might be the choice of the players themselves, but the show format itself has two games a day, where one game match has the players competing against each other, and another game that they have to win collectively, and the teamwork of that second game counters negative feelings that might have come out from the regular match. I liked that, I thought it was very clever! I also wonder if the living-in format also reduces drama since players have to spend ALL their time with each other, and Korean social community rules guide them into working out peaceable solutions.
( Cut for The Devil's Plan season 1 winner spoilers. )