2518 / The Bear, S4
Jun. 27th, 2025 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
siriaThere's nothing like gently dissociating while having a root canal to a playlist consisting of the greatest hits of Kenny Goggins and Engelbert Humperdinck. Neither the dentist nor the assistant are old, so I'm not sure what was going on there. I really hope they didn't think that was my vibe.
( The Bear, Season 4 )
( The Bear, Season 4 )
Me-and-media update
Jun. 27th, 2025 03:50 pmchina_shopI wrote most of this on Tuesday, and now it's Friday, so some unrepaired time dilation might slip through.
Pandemic life
( Protocol slippage. )
Previous poll review
In the Impending doom of the natural variety poll, the most common natural disaster threatening respondents is drought/heat (55.6%), followed by flood (44.4%), then blizzard (40.7%). Twelve of us (including me) are at risk of earthquakes.
In ticky-boxes, hugs won by a landslide with 70.4%, followed by "ticky-box made of Möbius strips and Escher staircases" with 48.1%. Thank you for your votes!
Reading
A little more Neurotribes, but the focus on kids and parenting is not holding my interest. Nothing wrong with it; I'm just not the right audience. A chapter of Guardian. A smidgen more of The Book of Three, and the first few hours of Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm (very heavy on introductions and the nitty-gritty of school administration so far, but I like the POV character - no spoilers, please).
TV & movies
Four episodes of The Expanse season 6 with a friend; we're watching the other two tonight. Murderbot (really enjoyed the last episode). Poker Face (haven't seen the latest). Andor S02E06 (maybe we're watching this too slowly? so far this season isn't clicking for me).
Episode 2 of Stick, which... I enjoyed watching Lydio Ko play on TV, one time, but I just don't know how much golf I can engage with, especially in fiction. Swings all look the same to me, so after the first three or four, there's none of the physical competence porn you get in more overtly active sports. And I don't find Owen Wilson inherently charming or interesting. I think the biggest appeal of the show is actually that so much of it is set outside with trees around, and that's still a very manicured, artificial setting. /fussy /tl;dr, We're in the market for a new show.
Our Unwritten Seoul (Kdrama on Netflix). I'm enjoying this so much! Two episodes and several revelations yet to go.
Materialists at the movies. We went to this because a friend and I have a running conversation about the death of the romcom, and this nominally was one. But it turned out to not really be rom or com, and the title should have clued me in that Andrew wouldn't like it (he disliked the main character and wasn't at all invested in the outcome). It's interestingly structured, and the cast is good, but it's mostly about entitled people approaching dating in terms of checkboxes (age, height, income, etc).
I don't think I've ever seen a relationship movie that starts out focused on one pairing getting together (they feel pretty well-matched, and Pedro Pascale's character is smart, open, attentive and kind), then transitions to another pairing. Huh.
The Wild Robot on Netflix. Okay, this was really cute and funny. I especially enjoyed the possum babies. (I kept missing quips, though -- poor sound mixing, or is my hearing going?) As an aside, I was amused that the corporation was called Universal Dynamics, given Global Dynamics in Eureka (2006) and Massive Dynamics in Fringe (2008). What comes after "universal"?
October Sky on Netflix. Fictionalised biopic about a kid in a coal-mining company town in 1957 who is inspired by Sputnik to create a rocket, learn trigonometry, and get a college scholarship. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Laura Linney. It was fine, but wow, I wanted the story to be about overthrowing the company.
Audio entertainment
I spent four or five hours over the weekend listening to Melanie Nelson of Coherent podcast interviewing politicians, academics and a disability activist about the "Let's Make Everything Libertarian" Bill for which submissions closed lunchtime Monday. (Locals, it's not too late to weigh in! Talk to your MP!) Since then, Writing Excuses and a bunch of Midnight Burger. (I bounced off Midnight Burger when I first tried it a year or two ago, but now I'm really enjoying the physics and other science aspects, and the characters are growing on me. Ava is my fav. I'm most of the way through episode 11.)
Online life
Catching up on comments. Still have a billion unread emails, and let's not even talk about my tabs.
Writing/making things
I spent the weekend juggling multiple urgent things. Now I have some breathing space, of course, when I sit down to write (aiming for a combination![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fan_flashworks entry and Guardian Bingo), I can't make sentences.
Finished and posted an old outsider POV writing exercise forfan_flashworks's Yield challenge.
Life/health/mental state things
I got my political submission in (thanks tocyphomandra for beta) and wrote an outraged email to the Prime Minister about the Deputy Prime Minister's engaging in stochastic harrassment.
In general, I've been feeling needlessly stressed and vaguely sick, but today my alarm didn't go off and I slept an extra hour and a half. So much better.
Good things
Un-punctured bike tyre. Kdrama. New intermediate glasses making it easier to do crosswords and to read while I exercise. New bathroom sink taps.sid_guardian commentpalooza. I'll probably get back on my writing feet again soon. Andrew and Halle and books and fandom.
Pandemic life
( Protocol slippage. )
Previous poll review
In the Impending doom of the natural variety poll, the most common natural disaster threatening respondents is drought/heat (55.6%), followed by flood (44.4%), then blizzard (40.7%). Twelve of us (including me) are at risk of earthquakes.
In ticky-boxes, hugs won by a landslide with 70.4%, followed by "ticky-box made of Möbius strips and Escher staircases" with 48.1%. Thank you for your votes!
Reading
A little more Neurotribes, but the focus on kids and parenting is not holding my interest. Nothing wrong with it; I'm just not the right audience. A chapter of Guardian. A smidgen more of The Book of Three, and the first few hours of Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm (very heavy on introductions and the nitty-gritty of school administration so far, but I like the POV character - no spoilers, please).
TV & movies
Four episodes of The Expanse season 6 with a friend; we're watching the other two tonight. Murderbot (really enjoyed the last episode). Poker Face (haven't seen the latest). Andor S02E06 (maybe we're watching this too slowly? so far this season isn't clicking for me).
Episode 2 of Stick, which... I enjoyed watching Lydio Ko play on TV, one time, but I just don't know how much golf I can engage with, especially in fiction. Swings all look the same to me, so after the first three or four, there's none of the physical competence porn you get in more overtly active sports. And I don't find Owen Wilson inherently charming or interesting. I think the biggest appeal of the show is actually that so much of it is set outside with trees around, and that's still a very manicured, artificial setting. /fussy /tl;dr, We're in the market for a new show.
Our Unwritten Seoul (Kdrama on Netflix). I'm enjoying this so much! Two episodes and several revelations yet to go.
Materialists at the movies. We went to this because a friend and I have a running conversation about the death of the romcom, and this nominally was one. But it turned out to not really be rom or com, and the title should have clued me in that Andrew wouldn't like it (he disliked the main character and wasn't at all invested in the outcome). It's interestingly structured, and the cast is good, but it's mostly about entitled people approaching dating in terms of checkboxes (age, height, income, etc).
Spoilery things about the structure.
The main character, Lucy, is a professional matchmaker in NYC, and the film is in three parts: the first third is a wealth-porn romance between her and Pedro Pascale; he pursues her after they meet at the wedding of his brother, her former client. They go to a lot of expensive restaurants, have sex on satin sheets in his $12m penthouse, and talk a lot of numbers at each other. He wants to take her to Iceland on holiday. The middle third (or possibly third act of four? I wasn't timing it) starts when one of Lucy's clients is sexually assaulted on a date Lucy set up. This all happens off-screen, and I don't think we even see the assaulter. The victim is the nicest, warmest of Lucy's clients, but the film is mostly concerned with Lucy's crisis, as the assault brings home that the checkboxes don't matter. The final third or act is a second-time-around romance with her struggling-actor/cater-waiter ex-boyfriend, Chris Evans. Lucy broke up with him over money, and now at the culmination of her character arc, she decides she loves him enough to make it work after all. Conveniently, he is still extremely hung up on her.I don't think I've ever seen a relationship movie that starts out focused on one pairing getting together (they feel pretty well-matched, and Pedro Pascale's character is smart, open, attentive and kind), then transitions to another pairing. Huh.
The Wild Robot on Netflix. Okay, this was really cute and funny. I especially enjoyed the possum babies. (I kept missing quips, though -- poor sound mixing, or is my hearing going?) As an aside, I was amused that the corporation was called Universal Dynamics, given Global Dynamics in Eureka (2006) and Massive Dynamics in Fringe (2008). What comes after "universal"?
October Sky on Netflix. Fictionalised biopic about a kid in a coal-mining company town in 1957 who is inspired by Sputnik to create a rocket, learn trigonometry, and get a college scholarship. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Laura Linney. It was fine, but wow, I wanted the story to be about overthrowing the company.
Audio entertainment
I spent four or five hours over the weekend listening to Melanie Nelson of Coherent podcast interviewing politicians, academics and a disability activist about the "Let's Make Everything Libertarian" Bill for which submissions closed lunchtime Monday. (Locals, it's not too late to weigh in! Talk to your MP!) Since then, Writing Excuses and a bunch of Midnight Burger. (I bounced off Midnight Burger when I first tried it a year or two ago, but now I'm really enjoying the physics and other science aspects, and the characters are growing on me. Ava is my fav. I'm most of the way through episode 11.)
Online life
Catching up on comments. Still have a billion unread emails, and let's not even talk about my tabs.
Writing/making things
I spent the weekend juggling multiple urgent things. Now I have some breathing space, of course, when I sit down to write (aiming for a combination
fan_flashworks entry and Guardian Bingo), I can't make sentences. Whining.
A contributing factor is that I'm having another "argh, my prose sucks" crisis of confidence. This happens periodically. You can't be on a roll indefinitely without hitting a bump, I guess. For me, usually it means it's time to read a particular type of literary novel, preferably in paper format. The one I remember being most successful is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible; the very close, very voice-y rotating POVs, the playful intricate language use, and the thoughtful exploration of context help me to sink into whatever POV I'm writing, rather than skating over the surface and Lego-ing together tired phrases. I wrote some really good fic after re-reading it a few years ago. Whereas re-reading Byatt's Possession just meant I produced endless run-on sentences, heh. Anyway, I guess I should get on that soon...Finished and posted an old outsider POV writing exercise for
fan_flashworks's Yield challenge.Life/health/mental state things
I got my political submission in (thanks to
cyphomandra for beta) and wrote an outraged email to the Prime Minister about the Deputy Prime Minister's engaging in stochastic harrassment.In general, I've been feeling needlessly stressed and vaguely sick, but today my alarm didn't go off and I slept an extra hour and a half. So much better.
Good things
Un-punctured bike tyre. Kdrama. New intermediate glasses making it easier to do crosswords and to read while I exercise. New bathroom sink taps.
sid_guardian commentpalooza. I'll probably get back on my writing feet again soon. Andrew and Halle and books and fandom.Poll #33295 Routine
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56
Night-time getting-ready-for-bed routine
View Answers
I brush my teeth
47 (83.9%)
I lock up and switch things off around the house
29 (51.8%)
I tend to pets
18 (32.1%)
there are a few skincare- and/or haircare-type steps
18 (32.1%)
kind of a lot of steps, of various kinds
9 (16.1%)
it takes me more than half an hour
13 (23.2%)
sometimes it takes me an hour or more
4 (7.1%)
what routine? I'm always ready for bed
8 (14.3%)
other
9 (16.1%)
ticky-box of it's normal to have strong opinions about taps (AKA faucets)
24 (42.9%)
ticky-box of how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done
32 (57.1%)
ticky-box of wondering if today is the day you'll unexpectedly step through a portal into another time or world
22 (39.3%)
ticky-box full of sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls
32 (57.1%)
ticky-box full of hugs
42 (75.0%)
half an hour earlier tomorrow
Jun. 26th, 2025 10:30 pmmusesfoolTodd Zeile: Pete's been chasing breaking balls
My brain: don't go chasing breaking balls, stick to the sliders and the fastballs you're used to
*facepalm*
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My brain: don't go chasing breaking balls, stick to the sliders and the fastballs you're used to
*facepalm*
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2517 / Fic - The Old Guard/Doctor Who
Jun. 26th, 2025 06:15 pmsiriaLessons in a Minor Key
The Old Guard/Doctor Who | ~9300 words | Thanks tosheafrotherdon for betaing.
(Also on AO3)
( The noise got louder, a gasping wail that sounded like no bird Joe had ever heard on Malta, and then a box materialised on the other side of the terrace. A large blue box that said POLICE on the top, appearing out of thin air. Joe cast a worried glance at the sangria—maybe he'd been a bit too liberal with the wine? Or maybe he'd lain out here too long and he'd got a case of sunstroke? )
The Old Guard/Doctor Who | ~9300 words | Thanks to
sheafrotherdon for betaing.(Also on AO3)
( The noise got louder, a gasping wail that sounded like no bird Joe had ever heard on Malta, and then a box materialised on the other side of the terrace. A large blue box that said POLICE on the top, appearing out of thin air. Joe cast a worried glance at the sangria—maybe he'd been a bit too liberal with the wine? Or maybe he'd lain out here too long and he'd got a case of sunstroke? )
what the mama saw, it was against the law
Jun. 25th, 2025 05:15 pmmusesfoolIn addition to various Spider-Man and Captain America-themed items, I ordered a Batman shirt and a Robin shirt for Baby Miss L and then I was like, but does she know who Batman and Robin even are??? So I went looking for toddler-friendly Bat-stuff, and lo and behold, there is a show called Batwheels on Cartoon Network (and HBO Max) about the Batmobile and other Bat vehicles (the Redbird, Batgirl's bike) coming to life like the toys in Toy Story! With DUKE as ROBIN and CASS as BATGIRL!!! I love this!!! (mainly because I was afraid it was going to be Damian as Robin and Babs as Batgirl and that's just weird.) I don't know if any of the other kids exist, but there is a Batplane they call Wing, so maybe Nightwing is around? I didn't watch it, just read the wiki, but I mentioned it to my niece, so maybe Baby Miss L can get started early on loving Robin, and she can enjoy Tiny Titans when she's a little bit older. (I am still sad and bitter that Tiny Titans was cancelled so unceremoniously because it was the best.)
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Service Model, by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Jun. 25th, 2025 08:52 amrunpunkrunI will read anything Adrian Tchaikovsky writes, and I read this, where a robot valet makes a decision his programming can't account for and is then thrust out of the safety and predictability of his manor home and into the chaos of the unknown, but it's a book that can't seem to commit to a perspective or tone. I mean:
This is not a page turner. At one point, I swear to god, Libby predicted it would take me 23 years to finish reading it. But it's Tchaikovsky, and so finish it I did. Even when dealing almost entirely with robots, his science fiction is humanist, concerned with individual choices, with no one person or group being the big bad. Instead the friction comes where systems overlap without comprehension.
There's also a short story set before this book that you can read at Reactor: Human Resources by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Contains: the collapse of human civilization, robot harm and death.
Inside his decision-making software there were two subroutines in the shape of wolves, and one insisted that he stay, and the other insisted that he could not stay.Is this robot valet on Tumblr? Nothing in the text justifies such a distracting choice.
This is not a page turner. At one point, I swear to god, Libby predicted it would take me 23 years to finish reading it. But it's Tchaikovsky, and so finish it I did. Even when dealing almost entirely with robots, his science fiction is humanist, concerned with individual choices, with no one person or group being the big bad. Instead the friction comes where systems overlap without comprehension.
Charles, House said at last. We are only following instructions.This book is a world-building slow burn that examines the overlap of automation and humanity, and comes to a dire—but logical—conclusion.
There's also a short story set before this book that you can read at Reactor: Human Resources by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Contains: the collapse of human civilization, robot harm and death.
too many large crooked numbers
Jun. 24th, 2025 09:10 pmmusesfoolSo this morning I updated the board chair on expected attendance at today's board meeting, and she replied, should we just switch the meeting to zoom entirely, due to the weather? So that is what we did! And as much as I would have liked to have had dinner with Friend L this evening, I was much happier not having to schlep into the city in 101°F heat. The meeting went well, and now I can relax for a few weeks.
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Guardian fic: Supplanted (episode 9 gen, Xiao Quan POV)
Jun. 24th, 2025 05:05 pmchina_shopI finished off an old writing exercise for the Yield challenge on fan_flashworks:
Title: Supplanted (1541 words) [General Audiences]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Characters: Xiao Quan (Shen Wei's student), Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, Jiajia
Additional Tags: Episode Related, Canon Scene, Canon Dialogue, POV Outsider, Episode 9 roadtrip, Zhao Yunlan is my blorbo, but sometimes he's a bit of a dick, Xiao Quan don't get no respect
Summary:
The responsibility for getting them back on the road rests on Luo Quan’s shoulders—and when he achieves it, the glory will be his, too. Jiajia will clap her hands and promise to buy him a drink when they get back to Dragon City. Professor Shen will give an approving smile.
fan_flashworks:Title: Supplanted (1541 words) [General Audiences]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Characters: Xiao Quan (Shen Wei's student), Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, Jiajia
Additional Tags: Episode Related, Canon Scene, Canon Dialogue, POV Outsider, Episode 9 roadtrip, Zhao Yunlan is my blorbo, but sometimes he's a bit of a dick, Xiao Quan don't get no respect
Summary:
The responsibility for getting them back on the road rests on Luo Quan’s shoulders—and when he achieves it, the glory will be his, too. Jiajia will clap her hands and promise to buy him a drink when they get back to Dragon City. Professor Shen will give an approving smile.
i will lay me down
Jun. 23rd, 2025 05:37 pmmusesfoolMets just signed a guy named Dicky Lovelady! I am not making this up! Apparently he asked to be called Dicky instead of Richard. I am here for it! (Unless he's a truly terrible pitcher.)
In work news, after a while where I thought I might have to spend tonight baking cupcakes to bring to my board meeting tomorrow, I do not. Whew. I would have done it! But luckily someone else was like, "lol no, I'm buying a cake!" so whew. 😅 But this is the kind of last minute, half-assed nonsense our C suite does. If they had told me last week, I could have added a cake to our catering order, but nope! (Meanwhile, my boss: "Now I'm disappointed we don't get your cupcakes!" Me: "maybe next time I come to the office...")
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In work news, after a while where I thought I might have to spend tonight baking cupcakes to bring to my board meeting tomorrow, I do not. Whew. I would have done it! But luckily someone else was like, "lol no, I'm buying a cake!" so whew. 😅 But this is the kind of last minute, half-assed nonsense our C suite does. If they had told me last week, I could have added a cake to our catering order, but nope! (Meanwhile, my boss: "Now I'm disappointed we don't get your cupcakes!" Me: "maybe next time I come to the office...")
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i kicked and screamed, said, "please, don't go"
Jun. 22nd, 2025 08:50 pmmusesfoolI maybe should have rethought making chicken cutlets today, which was one of the hottest days we've had so far and it only looks like it's going to get hotter this week before it cools down, but I did not - they were on sale and I bought them, so I had to cook them as there is no room in my freezer to freeze them!
I did nope out of the extra steps of making chicken parm, though. No need to put the oven on again - I did enough of that yesterday when I baked chocolate banana bread and then made bacon for lunch for several days during the week. I just need to get through Tuesday - our only in-person board meeting this year and gosh, I wish we had talked the CEO out of it since it's supposed to be 97°F on Tuesday, but we did not. Hopefully people show up! (if they don't, that can be the argument against doing it again, at least until we get a new CEO. Their poor showing last September let us convince everyone that we only needed to do it once this year.) And I am meeting Friend L for dinner afterwards, so that should be fun! Next week I have a 3-day work week and then 2 weeks after that, I'm off for a whole week for my birthday week, so really, it's just getting through Tuesday. *deep breaths*
I did not watch the Mets last night and they mashed, so I decided not to watch them again tonight (also ESPN is the worst), which seems like the right decision, since they are being soundly beaten, at least so far. Sigh. I know it's a long season, but couldn't they have saved some of those runs for tonight?
Sigh.
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I did nope out of the extra steps of making chicken parm, though. No need to put the oven on again - I did enough of that yesterday when I baked chocolate banana bread and then made bacon for lunch for several days during the week. I just need to get through Tuesday - our only in-person board meeting this year and gosh, I wish we had talked the CEO out of it since it's supposed to be 97°F on Tuesday, but we did not. Hopefully people show up! (if they don't, that can be the argument against doing it again, at least until we get a new CEO. Their poor showing last September let us convince everyone that we only needed to do it once this year.) And I am meeting Friend L for dinner afterwards, so that should be fun! Next week I have a 3-day work week and then 2 weeks after that, I'm off for a whole week for my birthday week, so really, it's just getting through Tuesday. *deep breaths*
I did not watch the Mets last night and they mashed, so I decided not to watch them again tonight (also ESPN is the worst), which seems like the right decision, since they are being soundly beaten, at least so far. Sigh. I know it's a long season, but couldn't they have saved some of those runs for tonight?
Sigh.
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More Books!
Jun. 21st, 2025 02:20 pmnetgirl_y2kHaving spent far too long slogging through Private Rites by Julia Armfield grouchily going 'this should have been a novella' I decided to start off June with a couple of actual novellas.
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite - Olivia Waite is someone I had previously encountered through her series of f/f historical romances, so when I heard that her next book was going to be a cozy mystery set in space I was intrigued. A Miss Marple type detective is taking a well earned sabbatical in the ship's memory core before being decanted into a new body, when she wakes in a young body that isn't hers. It's cute, but it is very...slight. But I do increasingly think that it's an admirable skill to know and accept when a one hundred page idea is a one hundred page idea and not dragging it out to novel length.
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard - This was a little bit longer at one sixty odd pages, and there was a lot going on - navigators are people who can navigate unreality with the help of some sort of magical/sci-fi power called shadows, a monster escapes from unreality, there's a murder mystery, four expandable junior navigators all with their own traumas and neurodivergences have to learn to work together, there's an odd couple romance - and it's very interesting and all, but none of it gets enough room to breathe, so it doesn't really land.
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older - I absolutely adore this series about awkward lesbians solving fairly low stakes myteries in a future where humanity has fled a dying earth to a system of interlinked platforms around the rings of Jupiter. They actually remind me a little bit of Murderbot, not so much content wise, but, like, vibes, and the way they go down so easy. If you haven't read them, there are three of them now, and you're in for a treat!
Cover Story by Celia Laskey - You know that feeling where you're reading something at a clip and having a great time, and then you get to the end and are like, I don't actually think that was that good? Yeah, it was one of those. So that the set-up is that it's 2005, the beginning of the smartphone and blogging era, and a neurotic publicist falls in love with the up and coming actress she's charged with keeping in the closet. It was pacey and frothy and I read it over a couple of days, and then I got to the end and the one (1) thing about it that had stuck with me was there's this line in one of the sex scenes "her vagina gulped for air", and, I'm sorry, but whoever let that line stay in the final draft hates you and wants your endeavours to fail.
The Heiress by Molly Greeley - Modern takes on Austen can be of, uh, variable quality, but this one, where Anne de Bourgh fights her way out of her laudanum induced haze to take control of Roslings, her destiny, her queerness, her desire not to be a mother is probably the best one I have ever read. Highly recommended!
Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite - Olivia Waite is someone I had previously encountered through her series of f/f historical romances, so when I heard that her next book was going to be a cozy mystery set in space I was intrigued. A Miss Marple type detective is taking a well earned sabbatical in the ship's memory core before being decanted into a new body, when she wakes in a young body that isn't hers. It's cute, but it is very...slight. But I do increasingly think that it's an admirable skill to know and accept when a one hundred page idea is a one hundred page idea and not dragging it out to novel length.
Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard - This was a little bit longer at one sixty odd pages, and there was a lot going on - navigators are people who can navigate unreality with the help of some sort of magical/sci-fi power called shadows, a monster escapes from unreality, there's a murder mystery, four expandable junior navigators all with their own traumas and neurodivergences have to learn to work together, there's an odd couple romance - and it's very interesting and all, but none of it gets enough room to breathe, so it doesn't really land.
The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older - I absolutely adore this series about awkward lesbians solving fairly low stakes myteries in a future where humanity has fled a dying earth to a system of interlinked platforms around the rings of Jupiter. They actually remind me a little bit of Murderbot, not so much content wise, but, like, vibes, and the way they go down so easy. If you haven't read them, there are three of them now, and you're in for a treat!
Cover Story by Celia Laskey - You know that feeling where you're reading something at a clip and having a great time, and then you get to the end and are like, I don't actually think that was that good? Yeah, it was one of those. So that the set-up is that it's 2005, the beginning of the smartphone and blogging era, and a neurotic publicist falls in love with the up and coming actress she's charged with keeping in the closet. It was pacey and frothy and I read it over a couple of days, and then I got to the end and the one (1) thing about it that had stuck with me was there's this line in one of the sex scenes "her vagina gulped for air", and, I'm sorry, but whoever let that line stay in the final draft hates you and wants your endeavours to fail.
The Heiress by Molly Greeley - Modern takes on Austen can be of, uh, variable quality, but this one, where Anne de Bourgh fights her way out of her laudanum induced haze to take control of Roslings, her destiny, her queerness, her desire not to be a mother is probably the best one I have ever read. Highly recommended!
Whump fic: Whatever It Takes to Bring You Back (Guardian, SW/ZYL)
Jun. 20th, 2025 03:03 pmchina_shopTitle: Whatever It Takes to Bring You Back (5691 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, Wu Tian'en, Ding Dun
Additional Tags: Whump, Pain, Loss of Agency, Episode Related, episode 17, Zhao Yunlan's first trip to Dixing does not end well, Until it does, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt!Zhao Yunlan, hurt!Shen Wei, Get Together, First Kiss (for one of them)
Summary:
“Shen Wei! You’re here—” Zhao Yunlan was sobbing. Then he screamed again, curling in on himself and clutching his forearm. “Fuck, this hurts! Get it—this—get it out of me! Help, Shen Wei—”
Something was very wrong. Even if he were terribly injured, Zhao Yunlan wouldn’t permit panic into his voice. He would make jokes, not scream for help. How much agony must he be in, to have broken like this?
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, Wu Tian'en, Ding Dun
Additional Tags: Whump, Pain, Loss of Agency, Episode Related, episode 17, Zhao Yunlan's first trip to Dixing does not end well, Until it does, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt!Zhao Yunlan, hurt!Shen Wei, Get Together, First Kiss (for one of them)
Summary:
“Shen Wei! You’re here—” Zhao Yunlan was sobbing. Then he screamed again, curling in on himself and clutching his forearm. “Fuck, this hurts! Get it—this—get it out of me! Help, Shen Wei—”
Something was very wrong. Even if he were terribly injured, Zhao Yunlan wouldn’t permit panic into his voice. He would make jokes, not scream for help. How much agony must he be in, to have broken like this?
Me-and-media update
Jun. 20th, 2025 02:45 pmchina_shopPrevious poll review
In the The Tower poll, by far the most popular princess is the cat (63%), so I guess it's a cat tower. Runner up is the dragon princess with 47.8%, and third is the minotaur princess (32.6%), who I imagine is enjoying the view after so much time shut up in a labyrinth.
In ticky-boxes, rescue dragons came second to hugs, 60.9% to 69.6%, and puppies came third with 45.7%. Thank you for your votes!!
Reading
Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman, narrated by William Hope. This is (understandably) more about parenting than I was expecting, so I don't know that I'm getting a huge amount out of it. But it's well-written and well-read, and I'll keep going a bit further. (It's over 20 hours.)
Maybe a little more of The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander -- I'm not sure if I've got back to this since I last posted. I'm awaiting new intermediate glasses, which I'm hoping will make life easier and mean I can read on my exercise machine again, without having to set the font size to "huge". (Breaking news: ageing is overrated.)
Guardian by priest -- I think we're nearly through the epic (in both senses) mythology dump, and we'll soon be getting back to what I think of as the main plot arc.
Release Your Persona by Yeaze (Korean BL manhwa) (viareviews_and_ramblings, which I found via cornerofmadness) -- this sure was an education in how porny BL manhwa are. It's a short-and-sweet celeb/non-celeb romance. Very cute (and did I mention E-rated?).
No Peter Whimsy this week because I disliked the narrator of the audiobook.
Kdramas
Our Unwritten Seoul -- okay, I'm loving this story of adult twins who swap lives; it's interesting and hopeful without being fluffy. Curious to see where it's going, and (of course) impatient for secrets to come out.
Sell Your Haunted House -- rewatch continues. Such a good show.
Other TV
The first episode of Étoile, a ballet drama created by the Sherman-Palladinos (of Gilmore Girls and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel fame). Seems fun so far. We'll get back to it.
Finished the first season of the Argentinian show, El Eternauta, and I totally see why it was recommended to go in unspoiled (I agree!), but just ftr, the season doesn't wrap up. It's one of those gear-shift to-be-continued endings. Still, it was fascinating and I always appreciate a different-from-the-usual-suspects setting. (laireshi, if you happen to be reading this, this show hits one of your DNWs.)
Turning Point: The Vietnam War continues to be excellent; really impressive range of interview subjects from all sides. Murderbot is still really fun. Finished season 5 of The Expanse. The school episode of Poker Face and the con artist one (John Cho & Melanie Lynskey 4 eva), and episodes 4 & 5 of Andor season 2.
Guardian/Fandom
My fannish activity consists of the readalong, the polls, and writing -- which is all so much fun and plenty to keep me busy.
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, a lot of Coherent (local politics argh), and a couple of episodes of Midnight Burger because I was starving for fiction. (Episode 7 was so good I made Andrew listen to it. I'm not sure it worked as well out of context, but mostly I just liked the physics conversation anyway.)
Writing/making things
I'm still writing! This is a pretty great streak for me. How long can it last? Trying to finish a minor character/outsider POV flashfic for tomorrow'sfan_flashworks deadline (prompt: Yield), and I still have the Guardian bingo prompts for June on my mind. One day I'll get back to my WIPs.
Also, there's been author reveals, so I can say that I picked up a pinch hit forwhumpex, which was really fun. I had not previously thought I'd enjoy writing a fic where Zhao Yunlan spends most of it screaming in pain, but... you live, you learn.
Life/health/mental state things
( Idek. )
Good things
Sunshine and biking. The bakery at Greta Point, with its delicious cinnamon rolls and seed-strewn rye sourdough. Achieving getting my car fixed. Writing! Guardian and comments and polls and the readalong and happy brain-sparky times and people. My favourite hand cream courtesy ofmergatrude. Crosswords. Kdramas. My arms are holding up pretty well.
In the The Tower poll, by far the most popular princess is the cat (63%), so I guess it's a cat tower. Runner up is the dragon princess with 47.8%, and third is the minotaur princess (32.6%), who I imagine is enjoying the view after so much time shut up in a labyrinth.
In ticky-boxes, rescue dragons came second to hugs, 60.9% to 69.6%, and puppies came third with 45.7%. Thank you for your votes!!
Reading
Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter About People Who Think Differently by Steve Silberman, narrated by William Hope. This is (understandably) more about parenting than I was expecting, so I don't know that I'm getting a huge amount out of it. But it's well-written and well-read, and I'll keep going a bit further. (It's over 20 hours.)
Maybe a little more of The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander -- I'm not sure if I've got back to this since I last posted. I'm awaiting new intermediate glasses, which I'm hoping will make life easier and mean I can read on my exercise machine again, without having to set the font size to "huge". (Breaking news: ageing is overrated.)
Guardian by priest -- I think we're nearly through the epic (in both senses) mythology dump, and we'll soon be getting back to what I think of as the main plot arc.
Release Your Persona by Yeaze (Korean BL manhwa) (via
reviews_and_ramblings, which I found via cornerofmadness) -- this sure was an education in how porny BL manhwa are. It's a short-and-sweet celeb/non-celeb romance. Very cute (and did I mention E-rated?).No Peter Whimsy this week because I disliked the narrator of the audiobook.
Kdramas
Our Unwritten Seoul -- okay, I'm loving this story of adult twins who swap lives; it's interesting and hopeful without being fluffy. Curious to see where it's going, and (of course) impatient for secrets to come out.
Sell Your Haunted House -- rewatch continues. Such a good show.
Other TV
The first episode of Étoile, a ballet drama created by the Sherman-Palladinos (of Gilmore Girls and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel fame). Seems fun so far. We'll get back to it.
Finished the first season of the Argentinian show, El Eternauta, and I totally see why it was recommended to go in unspoiled (I agree!), but just ftr, the season doesn't wrap up. It's one of those gear-shift to-be-continued endings. Still, it was fascinating and I always appreciate a different-from-the-usual-suspects setting. (
laireshi, if you happen to be reading this, this show hits one of your DNWs.)Turning Point: The Vietnam War continues to be excellent; really impressive range of interview subjects from all sides. Murderbot is still really fun. Finished season 5 of The Expanse. The school episode of Poker Face and the con artist one (John Cho & Melanie Lynskey 4 eva), and episodes 4 & 5 of Andor season 2.
Guardian/Fandom
My fannish activity consists of the readalong, the polls, and writing -- which is all so much fun and plenty to keep me busy.
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, a lot of Coherent (local politics argh), and a couple of episodes of Midnight Burger because I was starving for fiction. (Episode 7 was so good I made Andrew listen to it. I'm not sure it worked as well out of context, but mostly I just liked the physics conversation anyway.)
Writing/making things
I'm still writing! This is a pretty great streak for me. How long can it last? Trying to finish a minor character/outsider POV flashfic for tomorrow's
fan_flashworks deadline (prompt: Yield), and I still have the Guardian bingo prompts for June on my mind. One day I'll get back to my WIPs.Also, there's been author reveals, so I can say that I picked up a pinch hit for
whumpex, which was really fun. I had not previously thought I'd enjoy writing a fic where Zhao Yunlan spends most of it screaming in pain, but... you live, you learn.Life/health/mental state things
( Idek. )
Good things
Sunshine and biking. The bakery at Greta Point, with its delicious cinnamon rolls and seed-strewn rye sourdough. Achieving getting my car fixed. Writing! Guardian and comments and polls and the readalong and happy brain-sparky times and people. My favourite hand cream courtesy of
mergatrude. Crosswords. Kdramas. My arms are holding up pretty well.Poll #33270 Impending doom of the natural variety
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 55
What natural disaster threat(s) do you live with?
View Answers
earthquake
12 (21.8%)
fire
15 (27.3%)
volcano
5 (9.1%)
flood
24 (43.6%)
drought/heat
31 (56.4%)
hurricane/cyclone
15 (27.3%)
landslide/avalanche
2 (3.6%)
blizzard
22 (40.0%)
tornado
16 (29.1%)
tsumani
4 (7.3%)
other
3 (5.5%)
ticky-box full of emergency kits/go bags
19 (34.5%)
ticky-box made of Möbius strips and Escher staircases
26 (47.3%)
ticky-box full of unlabelled VHS tapes
18 (32.7%)
ticky-box full of zebras in headphones listening to 80s pop on Stripe-ify
20 (36.4%)
ticky-box full of hugs
38 (69.1%)
of a runaway American dream
Jun. 18th, 2025 10:56 pmmusesfool*
Fly By Night, by Frances Hardinge
Jun. 18th, 2025 08:14 amrunpunkrunHereditary rule, little gods, and the power of the printed word in a world very much like early 18th century England, only not. But this is really the story of a fatherless girl and her Horrible Goose as they spy, steal, and blackmail their way through a world still recovering from, or possibly on the edge of, civil war.
I got a bit bogged down in the middle where there were too many guys (gender specific) that I didn't care about having problems that I also didn't care about, but Hardinge's wonderful descriptive writing carried me through. She is so good at writing, you guys (gender neutral), and this has some especially brilliant descriptions of water and the various sounds it makes:
Contains: child harm, probably; animal harm; "gypsies" for some reason.
I got a bit bogged down in the middle where there were too many guys (gender specific) that I didn't care about having problems that I also didn't care about, but Hardinge's wonderful descriptive writing carried me through. She is so good at writing, you guys (gender neutral), and this has some especially brilliant descriptions of water and the various sounds it makes:
There was no escaping the sound of water. It had many voices. The clearest sounded like someone shaking glass beads in a sieve. The waterfall spray beat the leaves with a noise like paper children applauding. From the ravines rose a sound like the chuckle of granite-throated goblins.And that's just the beginning. Every time she describes water, it's doing something different, a combination of words you've never before seen put in that order, but after a moment's thought it's obviously perfect. Her character work is excellent, too, though the POV of this book could best be described as "distant third person omniscient," and not really in a good way.
Contains: child harm, probably; animal harm; "gypsies" for some reason.
2515 / Fic - The Pitt
Jun. 16th, 2025 11:13 pmsiriathe body holds its shape
The Pitt | Jack/Robby | ~2400 words | Thanks tosheafrotherdon and ![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
trinityofone for audiencing/betaing.
(Also on AO3)
( 'No,' Jack said. 'No fucking way, tea doesn't do this. I've had tea before. My grandmother drank tea every day of her life, god rest her, and nothing like this ever happened to her.' Or; the Pitt has a bodyswap incident. )
The Pitt | Jack/Robby | ~2400 words | Thanks to
sheafrotherdon and (Also on AO3)
( 'No,' Jack said. 'No fucking way, tea doesn't do this. I've had tea before. My grandmother drank tea every day of her life, god rest her, and nothing like this ever happened to her.' Or; the Pitt has a bodyswap incident. )
i hear you went up to Saratoga, and your horse naturally won
Jun. 16th, 2025 07:50 pmmusesfoolI swear, sometimes I think my oven is some kind of black hole or something, because sometimes the laws of physics seem to weirdly not apply. Yesterday, as planned, I made teriyaki meatballs. Because I don't understand how the recipe author got 28 meatballs out of 16 oz of ground meat, I had 32 oz of ground chicken, from which I made 28 ping pong ball sized meatballs. I baked 16 meatballs on one tray at 400°F for 20 minutes. It was the only tray in the oven. FOURTEEN out of the 16 were at least at 170°F when I took them out of the oven (generally I aim for 165° for fully cooked ground chicken) and checked with my instant read thermometer. TWO were at 143°F. They weren't even next to each other! Just 2 random meatballs that somehow didn't cook to the same temperature as EVERY OTHER meatball on the same tray in the same oven. I mean, I know ovens can have hot spots, so does my oven somehow have cool spots? Less hot spots? I mean, what the actual fuck???
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