arduinna

iamrman posting in

scans_daily

Writer: Jerry Ordway

Pencils: Peter Krause

Inks: Mike Manley

Captain Marvel fights a super-powered arsonist.

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elainegrey

Chestnuts ripening. I roasted a pound plus before discovering i should let them "cure" for two weeks in the bottom of my fridge. OK then. And maybe they will be easier to peel after that? I did use my gadget that scores the chestnuts instead of risking slicing myself with blades.

It looks like fall. The cherry tree at the driveway has a nice copper color to leaves dappling it's green. The tulip poplars are dropping their blackened leaves. Some hint at yellow, but i assume stress from what is developing as a flash drought. It's been a month since we had meaningful rain. I think we have had .15". August 14th we had a half inch. I presume this is why the fig try seems to have dried up. The grass has dried up and i hope my scalping is effective at killing off the stilt grass, although i feel sad about the fescue. We might get some rain soon. Maybe i should go buy NEW grass seed at lunch or right after work. I think the seed i bought in August was from last winter's batch.

I have had insights about some level of "depression" i am experiencing. Last Tuesday in therapy i was explaining why i shouldn't buy all the Louisiana irises i had picked out (not quite a rainbow) over the Labor Day holiday. And - long story short - i was holding my failure to dig out the bed where they are to go against me, even though the first six months of this year did not have room for anything. And i cried and i think it was the first time i mourned something about my health this spring.

Perhaps in August the emotional weight has caught up with me.

I think there might be something about canning and missing the chance to pickle the onion scapes that has made me have some knots about "dealing with" the figs.

I should be journaling more, i think, to give my self a chance to dig at my thinking.

I did go buy the irises. I found some already sold out. I picked out replacements ... and i can get lost in the possibilities. Other research i've lost myself in includes planning for a trip to the Outer Banks, looking at trails and sound side access points, finding what fish will be in season. I hope i can buy small servings on many different fish and try them all. Turns out there are two types of shrimp - comparing them would be lovely.

cimorene

On the plus side, plumbers are here digging up the yard to fix the drain to the sewer.

On the minus side, the plumber asked me if Wax was my mom. 😂😭But on the plus (?) side that was probably more embarrassing for him than for us? (I have gray in my hair! But apparently not visibly, at a glance.) (Wax also looks young for her age, but I guess her hair looks much grayer now.)

The tenant side drains will be cut off from tomorrow, so we have to clean the bathrooms tonight so they can use our bathrooms. And the giant pit that's being dug has eliminated the direct route from their door to ours, so they'll have to go the long way around the house to reach us. And we'll have to climb over the railings and jump down the side of the stairs to our door for a little while.

But obviously it's all worth it! Because ultimately it means working drains instead of open septic tanks with a pump in them.

matsushima posting in

communal_creators

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Current Mood: working

selenak

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finished its third season, and you may have deduced from the fact I didn't review the remaining episodes that for me, it did not take a turn for the better. The Ortegas episode was probably the most, in lack of a better term, Trekian, not to mention the long awaited one with a focus on Ortegas beyond "I fly the ship", but it shares with far too many ST: SNW episodes the way it is just incredibly derivative, of both other franchises and earlier ST. And the series finale chose to pick my least favourite DS9 plotline and scenario, sigh. To complete my turn to an old grouch, the feeling of this season as Star Trek: The Rom Com didn't help, either. Anyway. I'll always have Discovery and Prodigy in terms of new ST that manages to unite both affection for the past AND originality and the courage to try out new paths and characters.
*****

Given the daily horror show that is the news, it's all the more important to find joy in fannish things, so I was delighted to discover this new Sense 8 vid. Now there was a show celebrating joy and diversity:

Sense 8

Voice in my Throat

***

And on another joyful note: Yuletide nominations have started!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Bamberg

iamrman posting in

scans_daily

Writer: Chuck Dixon

Pencils: Scott McDaniel

Inks: Karl Story

Robin drops by for a visit.

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shipperslist

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oursin

Happy birthday,

desert_dragon!

rydra_wong

For anyone who may be Dark Souls-curious, here is a very long video essay of which I've only watched part (because I'm trying to limit spoilers) and of which I mainly want to rec part -- the first 30 mins or so, where the essayist discusses something that the mythology about the game’s supposed uber-difficulty tends to obscure, namely the gorgeous, generous array of different tools and options that it gives you for engaging with its difficulties, and how it tries to teach you to use them:

Watch on YouTube

I think this is some of the stuff that prompted me to declaim “Dark Souls loves me and wants me to be happy.”

The game is difficult, it is intended to be difficult (and I still don't know if, for me, it will at some point be insuperably difficult), and progressing and learning through difficulty and failure is the core gameplay loop. As mentioned, it took me a total of seven hours to beat the most recent boss, the Capra Demon. I am currently camped out in the Depths, where I intermittently fall through holes and get cursed by basilisks. I recently got invaded for the first time, by a player who watched as I ran directly under a slime and got enveloped, facepalmed*, and then waited politely while I extricated myself before murdering me**.

And yet my major feeling at this particular moment is of being spoiled (in the pampered sense, not the knowledge sense): I have too many good weapons to try (my beloved halberd, now upgraded to +7, a Balder Side Sword -- a rare and coveted drop -- and a Black Knight Sword)! I'm having to actively try not to over-level! I have so many upgrade materials! I have the world's largest stockpile of charcoal pine resin (purchased on my endless boss runs back to the Capra Demon, so I'd spend any souls I was carrying and not distract myself with losing or trying to retrieve them) so I can make my weapons burst into flame any time I want! I have opened the latest incredibly-convenient shortcut! There's a handy new merchant just before the next boss! I am holding an armful of presents and Dark Souls keeps trying to pile more on top!

{*I went off immediately afterwards to Google "dark souls how to facepalm”, but it looks like you have to join the Forest Hunter covenant to learn that emote and I have other plans. Still tempted, though.}

{**I had expected to loathe being invaded — and had initially planned to play offline mainly to avoid that, but did not for reasons which need to be a different post — but in the event, it was brief, non-inconveniencing, and actually pretty funny.}

dine

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mecurtin

Sometimes Purrcy is just such a funny little gremlin, wiggling around lovingly, showing the trap that is the soft soft underbelly.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby wiggles upside down, showing his belly, looking very silly and touchable and not at all like someone who will grab any hand that infringes his airspace.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby wiggles upside down, showing his belly, looking very silly and touchable and not at all like someone who will grab any hand that infringes his airspace.

In college I got in the habit of taking my shower at night to avoid the rush & I never stopped. Nowadays Purrcy often comes in after I'm done to Stalk the Wild Drips, and he'll mew at me if there aren't enough.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is gazing intently up a wet shower wall, waiting for a Wild Drip to appear

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is gazing intently up a wet shower wall, waiting for a Wild Drip to appear

This past week was officially Too Much. I've been spending too much time on social media, doomscrolling and distractionscrolling. And then reading things to distract my self, and playing particularly pointless games, which in my case is using our NYTimes Games subscription to play Tiles over & over & over again, especially the New Haven tileset, which is just colors, no patterns.

I've got a lot to *do*, but I'm so agitated by the Horrors. I was really worried last week that we were heading for a full Reichstag Fire event. Now I've *got* to wean myself off social media, which at this point is just Bluesky, and buckle down and deal with my to-do list. Maybe I'll try adding a sentence to my DW post draft every time I feel tempted to open it up again, see how that works.

escapade_team posting in

escapade_con

Now that you've registered for Escapade 36 and made your hotel reservation (you have, haven't you??), and if you haven't, here's all you need to know about registration and hotel:

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-36-hotel-and-registration-information/

It's time to tell us what you want to see for programming!

We always have ideas, but we want Escapade programming to reflect what YOU'RE interested in talking about.

Best way to let us know what you want is to head over and make panel suggestions! Everything is welcome, from the Golden Oldies to the Newest Shiny, from plain old squee to serious thinky things.

If you're one of those people who loves to bounce ideas off of other folks, we will be having panel submission brainstorming parties, dates and times TBD.

The form is open and ready for you to give us all your great ideas:

https://escapadecon.net/panels/panel-nomination/

Deadline to make panel suggestions is December 16, 2025.

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-36-panel-suggestions-open/

southernmedicine

I just finished the first (and currently only) season of The Paper, which is sort of a sequel to The Office, and I enjoyed it! Maybe it took a few episodes for me to really get into it, but I ended up really liking the characters.

I also finished reading Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, which I can highly recommend as something that sort of blends magical stories with Bridgerton era England.

Had a DnD session tonight and I took a slightly more active role than in the average session, which always makes me feel a little nervous, but it was great.

Blair is feeling a little under the weather. Or was, I guess, as she's feeling a lot better today. I went with her to get her hair cut, and while we were out, we also had lunch, poked around in a crystal shop, and did the grocery shopping.

She's going away this weekend for a mandatory class field trip, where her mycology class is traveling all the way to the University of Notre Dame, (like five hours away) from Friday morning until Sunday night to forage for mushrooms and then study them in the research laboratory. I'm not sure why they have to travel so far to do that, as there are tons of mushrooms right here in La Crosse, and she has a whole tackle box full of like fifteen different varieties to prove it, but whatever. I'll miss her while she's gone and I'll be worried the entire time. They're carpooling (I can't vouch for how her classmates or professors drive) and staying in research dorms (I don't trust other people) and she likely won't have all that much time to check in and let me know how they're getting on.

I will have to distract myself this weekend, which means hey, maybe I'll actually get a little writing done for the first time in what feels like a year.

Current Mood: sleepy

sonia

Kyrianna.art Portraits via

house_wren.

Portraits of people in watercolors, overlaid with plants or structures that symbolize their illnesses. I love the title page portrait of a sitting woman with her limbs emerging from a much smaller decrepit house. Each portrait has its own page describing the person's illnesses and why they chose the symbols to represent them. Beautiful and powerful.

silverusagi

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Current Mood: tired

donutsweeper

Earlier today I *finally* finished checking all the links on my research/useful links posts, adding all the new links and reorganizing them. Both the Hollywood/History/Clothing/etc post and the Randomness one had gotten too big so I removed somethings from the history one and separated the randomness one into two posts with the history things (old books, magazines, radio theater etc) fitting into one. There's now close to 2250 links between all the posts. *phew* The masterpost is here or everything can also be found via my useful links tag.

And also, excitedly, Yuletide nominations have opened!! Go forth and nominate! (I'll be nominating that cute animated short, Vampire Gastelbrau, and also The First Shot (Gu Yiran, Zheng Bei and Jiang Xiaohai), See Your Love (Jiang Shaopeng, Yang Zixiang) and All Souls (Mitchell Grace, Glory, and Worldbuilding) definitely but am still waffling on my last slot. But we are allowed 4 characters per fandom so if anyone wants someone added to First Shot or See Your Love just give me a shout.

What's everyone else nominating?

sonia

I have been looking for someone who can revamp my Wordpress website traumahealed.com to make it book-focused rather than practice-focused.

Anyone have a skilled Wordpress person they can recommend? Bonus points for experience with book marketing sites.

I had a lovely conversation with one person who gave me a bunch of good marketing ideas, but said he doesn't have design skills, and I think that's the main thing I need. He gave me a ballpark estimate of $1,500 and said he charges $150/hour. He mentioned the Divi theme as one option.

The person who recommended him also recommended a woman who suggested the Divi theme and said she could install it for me on my staging site to let me see what it's like. She charges $80/hour. Sounded great. But she dropped out of communication when I had some feedback on the changes she made and asked how much time she had spent. I thought about how heavyweight and complex Divi seems and decided that's not the direction I want to go.

When she finally re-surfaced, the woman said she had been heads-down in a project (so let me know I'll hear back in a couple of weeks?) and there were "pink flags" (apparently that's the new yellow flags?) about my wanting to modernize my website. I declined to engage with that and simply paid her bill for 3 hours and called it a learning experience.

I talked to a third person, recommended by a bodyworker, who gave me a specific estimate for $1,440 and seems very open to feedback and heard what I said about a lightweight theme.

Now I'm debating with myself. That's a chunk of change to spend on marketing books that I doubt will ever earn it back, but it seems like the going rate. I don't want to just shut the website down, and I don't feel like I have the skills, time, and energy to revamp it myself. At the same time, I have strong opinions and don't want to spend that kind of money and end up with something I don't like.

I'm also struggling with wanting/not wanting to market the books at all. It doesn't feel right to take them out of print, but it still feels vulnerable to push them out into the world. It feels difficult to be making the decision alone, without outside input. If you have thoughts on the matter, let me know!

torachan

1. I finished another puzzle this morning.

This was from the same company as the pottery one, so it has weirdly shaped pieces and curves and flat-edged pieces that aren't actually part of the border, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but it was fun to do. This brand doesn't have a ton of puzzles that actually appeal to me, but I wouldn't rule out getting something from them in the future.

2. It was nice and overcast for most of the day today but soooooooo muggy. But I'd rather have overcast and cool(er) and muggy than sunny and hot and muggy.

3. I made another rhubarb pie this morning. We still have so much rhubarb lol. After having so much trouble finding it for years, we went a little overboard buying it from the lady at the farmers market. But it's all nicely chopped up and portioned into baggies in the freezer, so we can take our time using it.

4. On one of our walks today we saw the giant tortoises out in the yard and they were eating carrots! We do see them fairly often, but usually just eating grass.

5. Tuxie!

delphi

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ermingarden

Some of you may remember that back in 2019, I posted the first half of a fic called "Screwtape on Maedhros", which is exactly what it sounds like: a Screwtape Letters fusion/pastiche. There it has languished, unfinished, for six years. I always knew where I wanted to go with this fic, but for one reason or another haven't made substantial progress - until recently! So I'm pleased to share a draft for the next letter from Screwtape, written following the Nirnaeth Arnoediad:
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dianec42 posting in

justcreate

What are you working on? What have you finished? What do you need encouragement on?

Are there any cool events or challenges happening that you want to hype?

What do you just want to talk about?

What have you been watching or reading?

Chores and other not-fun things count!

Remember to encourage other commenters and we have a discord where we can do work-alongs and chat, linked in the sticky.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

justcreate

Someone overheard that I'm working with terraria and gave me this fairy garden lantern so I could turn it into a terrarium. :D So today I deconstructed it and cleaned the container.

The lantern part has an open top with a hanging loop and a solid base. It has a hexagonal shape with a narrow top, widest part below the middle, and slightly narrower base. The panes appear to be rigid plastic. The frame seems to be metal. There's a bit of heft to the base, even when empty.

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