arduinna

I won't sign up for more exchanges, she said, before being tempted by exchanges. Although this is more a broad smorgasbord of things I'm currently being tempted by.

I'm probably not signing up for Sex Pollen Exchange despite being very tempted. I love the trope, but I suspect signing up to write it for other people would be a great way for my brain to decide it had never seen a sex pollen in its life. (Signups close Aug. 31.)

I'm definitely not doing

ficinabox this year (signups 'til Aug. 31) because I'm definitely not up for 10K right now, but I wish the best to all who are throwing themselves on that pyre!

One thing I actually am seriously thinking about signing up for is Out of Order Exchange, a semi-flash exchange for non-linear fic. Currently taking nominations, and the signup window is tiny (Aug. 29-Sept. 1), then there's a 2-week writing period. I just think it sounds like a fun challenge (300 word minimum, 1 fandom minimum for requests/offers).

I also did sign up for

fandomgiftbasket, which is taking signups until Sept. 5. This one has no requirement to create anything; you can simply leave prompts (3 fandom minimum) and receive gifts. They do have a tendency towards delays if they have trouble filling all the baskets.

And this year's Whumptober prompts are out! (There is also a Whumptember challenge, because of course there is.) This is like the WORST year to try to write all the Whumptober days, because I have a lot going on that month, but I am so tempted to at least give it a try.

the_shoshanna

have a recipe! I've made this twice in the last week or so, it's freaking fantastic.

Roasted Squash and Kale Salad

2 delicata squash
olive oil
2 bunches kale
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
⅛ ground cloves
⅛ cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
½ Tbsp brown sugar
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped
½ cup dried cranberries
½ red onion, minced
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425°F. Halve the squash lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and slice into half-inch-thick semicircles. Toss squash pieces with a little olive oil and spread them on a couple of baking trays (I use silicone baking mats), overlapping as little as possible. Bake about 25 minutes, until some pieces are browning on top; flip them halfway through if you like. When they come out, dump them into a large bowl.

Meanwhile, strip the kale leaves from the stems and roughly chop the leaves. (I generally dice the stems and save them for soup or the like, but you can also dice them and use them here, or just toss them if you're not a fan.) When the squash comes out of the oven, pile the kale on the baking trays, drizzle the piles with a little olive oil, and toss and massage the leaves with your hands (watching out for the hot tray underneath) until they're well coated and a bit tender. Bake the leaves in the same oven until wilted and crisp in some spots, about 5-10 minutes. When they come out, add them to the bowl with the squash.

Meanwhile, combine the cinnamon, paprika, nutmeg, cloves, cayenne pepper, and brown sugar in a small bowl, add the nuts and 1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil, and toss to coat. When the kale comes out of the oven, spread the nuts on the baking trays (here is where a baking mat is great, since otherwise melting sugar might stick) and bake them in the same oven until toasted and candied, about 5 minutes. Add them to the squash and kale; be sure to scrape in any coating that has come off the nuts. Add the cranberries as well.

Meanwhile, in the same bowl in which you mixed the nuts and their coating (which surely still has a fair bit of leftover coating mix in it), whisk together the onion, maple syrup, mustard, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice. Whisk in more olive oil, anything from another couple tablespoons to a quarter-cup. Taste and adjust. When you have it as you like it, pour the dressing over the salad and toss everything together. Eat warm or at room temperature.

umadoshi

The other day, my phrasing when I tried to describe what the Glass Heart actors are doing was not at all as clear as it should've been!

So: It's not that the main cast in this show are faking playing the instruments. It's that none of them are musicians at all, and they learned to play the specific material for the show well enough to visually pass not only as being able to play but as being very good (the male lead is explicitly a musical genius), with full shots of them doing bits of it rather than having body doubles or clever cuts or anything, AND doing some pretty heavy-lifting acting at the same time. (What I don't know is whether their performances pass as looking professional to actual professional musicians, but one of the supporting cast is an actual singer and seems pretty impressed with it.)

The making-of feature I linked in my last post is specifically about that aspect of the show/their performances.

Current Mood: embarrassed

yhlee

Do I know anyone who is going to DragonCon this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia and who is

(a) willing to buy some BPAL for me there and ship it to me (Louisiana)
(b) in exchange for either filthy lucre (PayPal or Venmo) or
(c) 4 oz. handspun yarn just for you to be negotiated?

examples of my spinning:

wool, 2-ply

wool/sari silk, 2-ply

( and more )

re: (c), fibers I have on hand in sufficient quantity

These are wool. Front left (greens & blues) and front right (blues & greys) I have 4-ish oz.

In back, I have 1-2 oz. of others (pink & blue, sky blue, navy blue), which could be blended, or I could spin multiple yarns up to 4 oz.

(I can't get more of the colorways shown here because these were inherited from others' destashes.)

Also 2 oz each of the following:

- left: 25/25/25/25 flax/hemp/cotton/ramie blend
- right: 25/25/25/25 flax/hemp/bamboo/ramie blend

I have smaller quantities of various sari silk colorways that could be blended into most of these for effect. (The silk fiber is the stuff on the chair, not the wool yarn draped over the arm lol.)

Or I could order US-based fiber batts/combed top (etc) within an agreed price range and spin those for you.

But I imagine filthy lucre is the most interesting. :p Leave a comment or email me at yoon at yoonhalee dot com!

yhlee

This one's going to an astronomer friend. I think catten is trying to figure out where the SHEEP are. :p

Earlier:

twistedchick

No, nobody died.

My elderly aunt -- who is the youngest and only remaining member of my father's generation, his little sister -- said something in an email that indicated that she, treasured and pampered last child, did not know the full story about her father's travels around the world. I grew up hearing stories of Grampa's travels from Dad and from his brother; I know all the details about what it was like to sail in a four-masted barque from Bremen to Cape Town to Sydney through the Straits of Magellan (in winter!) to Rio de Janiero to Genoa, a two-year voyage.

She took my offer as an insult; of course she'd been told everything (her version was "Nobody can know what happened."). And called me a liar, and worse. She said I was making it all up, or Dad had invented it, because nobody who wasn't there could know. (This is the woman who had a free ride to Purdue but dropped out after 1 semester because she couldn't be that far away from her mother. She has no idea about studying anything, let alone history, or about research. I'm amazed she got out of high school.)

I let out some of the head of steam this built in me (that has always been the worst insult for me, as a writer and journalist). Then I told her I was not a liar, nor did I invent family history. All that I knew had been verified not only by my father but by one of his brothers, and was truth. It was known, just not to her. All the family stories were softened when they were told to the baby of the family.

And just as I wasn't around in the 30s, she wasn't around at the turn of the century when Grandpa was on that trip.

She had also called me by my birth name, which is now an insult in the world; who wants to be a Karen these days? I told her my name has been Kit for more than 50 years, and signed the note that way.

I have never been one of her cherished nieces; they got all the attention long before I was born, and by the time I came around she had no room for anyone else.

So, if I am lucky, she will no longer leave snarky notes in my FB comment if I mention family history on that side of the family. She cannot put me 'in my place' as she sees it; I am far and away out of her range.

It is more of a relief than anything else, the thought that I probably will not have to deal with her. And, as I said in the header, I still have a cousin on that side of the family whom I get along with well, and several on the other side. None of them within 400 miles or so, but that's how it goes.

I do miss the departed members of that generation, that family, ones who accepted me as I am, who listened and to whom I listened, and who I know loved me. They're gone, but never forgotten.

rachelmanija

Full letter to come!

Thank you for writing for me! If you have any questions, please check with the mods. I am a very easy recipient and will be delighted with whatever you write for me. I have no special requirements beyond what's specifically stated in my DNWs. I'm fine with all POVs (i.e., first, second, third), tenses, ratings, story lengths, etc.

My AO3 name is Edonohana. I am open to treats. Very open. I love them.

I like hurt-comfort, action/adventure, horror, domestic life, worldbuilding, evocative descriptions, camaraderie, loyalty, trauma recovery, difficult choices, survival situations, mysterious places and weird alien technology, food, plants, animals, landscape, X-Men type powers, learning to love again or trust again or enjoy life again, miniature things or beings, magic, strange rituals, unknowable things, epistolary fiction, found footage/art/creepy movies/etc, canon divergence AUs anf alternate versions of characters. I particularly love deadly/horrifying yet weirdly beautiful settings, especially if there's elements of space/time/reality warping as well. And many other things, too, of course! That list is just in case something sparks an idea.

( Opt-in Tags )

( General Art Likes )

( General DNWs )

( Caught in Crystal - Patricia Wrede )

( Dark Tower - Stephen King )

( Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey )

( Marvel 616 )

( Piranesi - Susanna Clarke )

( The Stand - Stephen King )

james

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

sholio

This season continues to be definitely Something.

( Spoilers )

yhlee

40/40/20 cotton/tussah silk/hemp (the seller called it an "experimental blend"). Very inconsistent yarn thanks to the learning curve, as I'm still quite new to this. Surprisingly soft once plied, though, despite the hemp content, and one of my favorite fiber blends to spin because there's never a dull moment. This one's going to my graduate advisor.

Cloud oversaw the winding of the center-pull ball using a plying-size Turkish spindle. (I did the actual spinning and plying on the wheel.)

(Still buried under orchestration homework and health stuff, but fortunately I am taking a LONG break from writing so I can recuperate.)

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: annoyed

marycrawford

Copying some of this from bluesky, with additions because there's no text limits here:

The Dongji Rescue Premiere in London was an utter shambles - fans tried to form a queue system and in the end nobody was allowed inside for the red carpet as had been promised, we all stood outside in 30C heat (with some shade from the building). Long-ge arrived, smiled, waved at us, and went inside.

This was the closest I ever saw him - despite being practically at the front of the line I ended up wayyy high in the cinema seats - in the “gods” more or less - but at that point I was just happy to get to sit down. By the end of the movie many of the fans seated up there with me all moved down to get a better view for the Q&A, but I was too tired at that point and just watched him from far above. (And Ni Ni, and Wu Lei <3)
‪
The movie was intense, violent, moving, full of action (some of it very grim) and I wanted more character moments and less pulling on ropes, especially for Ni Ni. Long-ge stole every scene he was in as usual, and I was also rather in love with his boat. I hope we get to see more scenes like this one that got left out of the final edit.

At the very end of the Q&A there was a lucky draw for signed posters, and my seat number was called! And here it is:

a poster for Dongji Rescue the movie, with signatures from actors and director in gold ink

a poster for Dongji Rescue the movie, with signatures from actors and director in gold ink

Judging by the faintness of the writing, I guess that Zhu Yilong was handed the less functional gold pen which somehow feels entirely on brand for him.

I didn’t realize until it was pointed out to me by a fellow fan that there was lots of great music but no long-ge song in the movie! That's a shame, he could have done a great job with ( spoilers )

I was absolutely saved by my earlier decision to get a hotel across the street, and to override all my calvinist habits of thought and pay the enormous cost for actual air conditioning and soundproofing and the like that comes with a fancy hotel in the heart of London. I think the last time I was in London by myself I stayed at a hostel, which really underscores how long ago that was. This time there were people opening the door for me and saying things like "Welcome back, madam, I hope you had a pleasant afternoon", which, honestly, I could get used to in daily life.

sholio

Hide and Seek (5088 words) by Sholio
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Murderbot (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Murderbot & PreservationAux Survey Team (Murderbot Diaries)
Characters: Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Mensah (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Gurathin (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Ratthi (Murderbot Diaries), Pin-Lee (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Arada (Murderbot Diaries), Dr. Bharadwaj (Murderbot Diaries)
Additional Tags: Friendship, Post-Canon, Banter, Fluff, Team Bonding, Hide and Seek, background tv-verse canon pairing (pin-lee/arada)
Summary: Murderbot thinks its humans need more practice not dying under field conditions. The answer is obviously a staged war game, modified for Preservation concerns. (TV-verse with a few minor book elements.)

Apparently I need to write something like this in every fandom I'm in that has some kind of organized team.

brightknightie

This “15-minute challenge” is filtered…

( links to past installments )

( the usual details )

bethbethbeth

On May 8th, I offered to read the first five books people recced - assuming they were available (preferably from the library) - and I'd give a short review [https://bethbethbeth.dreamwidth.org/701769.html].

This is the ninth recced book review.

America (1986), by Jean Baudrillard (recced by Hannah on dreamwidth)

(Note: I read this at least a month ago, but I forgot to post the review!)

America is two entirely different books. If I hadn't felt compelled to complete America (I started it four times before I could move beyond the fifth page), I would have given up the ghost by the end of chapter one. There's no denying that it's beautifully written, poetic, philosophic, deeply thoughtful at times. I have no particular problem with his critique of America - even in what he sees as its "banality." But god, did it feel pretentious and oddly incoherent for the longest time.

It's also weirdly racist. when it most tries to be anything but, and so much of it feels just...wrong. Take his observations of New York City, for example. Yes, much is "fast" about NY - both literally and metaphorically - but of all things, cars aren't the things that are faster (those of you who have experienced an Uber taking 20 minutes to drive from 2nd Avenue to 8th Avenue know what I mean). And eating alone in New York? It isn't incredibly "sad" as Baudrillard suggests... far more often it's a way to feel a moment of pleasurable solitude in a city of so many millions of people.

Some of what I perceive as wrongness in the book could be that Baudrillard is writing about the America of the 80s, yet treating it as if that's all there is of the America of past and future instead of it being a snapshot of time. Or it could be as simple as the translation missing the point at times (although, I suspect that's not the case). But one way or the other, this America seems not just subjective, but far too often like a work of fiction.

There are also an incredible number of similes...sometimes a half dozen per page. :)

Anyway, once America hits the "Utopia Achieved" chapter, it morphs into something both readable and insightful. I'm not sure how that happened. It might possibly have been magic.

I'm not entirely sure it made up for the first 3/5 of the book, however.

umadoshi

Reading and watching:

scruloose and I have made some more progress on listening to Rogue Protocol, albeit not a huge amount; this is not helped by the fact that for some reason this book is a bit glitchy on Hoopla (every now and then a few [?] words just get skipped).

I'm lumping all of my media intake together this week because I seem to be in/have been in an "only really focusing on a show or a book" phase, so I didn't start reading anything new until I'd finished watching Glass Heart. I really liked it! No fannish feelings at this time, but it was a lot of fun.

And then I watched this behind-the-scenes video, which has left me absolutely agog over the fact that none of the TENBLANK actors knew how to play their characters' instruments at all. My brain is shattered by this information. I've never been all that close to Being A Musician (and the only way in which I came at all close was as a singer), so I'm not looking at what they're doing with a professional eye and I realize that it may look rather less convincing to people who actually do play those instruments, but.

[ETA for badly-needed clarification: It's not that the main cast in this show are faking playing the instruments. It's that none of them are musicians at all, and they learned to play the specific material for the show well enough to visually pass not only as being able to play but as being very good (the male lead is explicitly a musical genius), with full shots of them doing bits of it rather than having body doubles or clever cuts or anything, AND doing some pretty heavy-lifting acting at the same time. (What I don't know is whether their performances pass as looking professional to actual professional musicians, but one of the supporting cast is an actual singer and seems pretty impressed with it.)]

(I've now showed

scruloose and Ginny and Kas the opening of episode 8, which is a flashback to two of the characters meeting after one sees the other playing. If you have Netflix and want a quick non-spoilery look at what this looks like, check that bit out. The guy in the hoodie is the male lead, played by Satoh Takeru, who also executive produced this show. Having seen him pull off playing Himura Kenshin plausibly, I should perhaps not be this dumbfounded by watching him play a musician, but here we are.)

Anyway! Since finishing that drama, I've read KJ Charles' Any Old Diamonds and Jordan L. Hawk's The Forgotten Dead and am now reading These Burning Stars (Bethany Jacobs). I also currently have a non-fiction read on the go: Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Daniel Sherrell).

And cutting back to watching things, I've also now seen a few episodes (three?) of K-foodie meets J-foodie on Netflix, in which two passionate foodies, one from Japan and one from Korea, eat a lot of delicious things together. The bit I've seen has been entirely in Japan, but I assume some episodes (or possibly the second season?) will be in Korea.

james

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brightknightie

I imagine that several of you will be interested to learn that there's a new

vampiremedia community, devoted to "all things vampires." It's currently running a recommendations event. :-D Enjoy!

It's not for me, of course. Each to her own! I don't want to yuck your yum! Please skip the rest of this post if it bothers you that not everyone enjoys vampires.

I hope that it's okay to say, here in my own journal, that I personally find no appeal in vampires as a trope. As a metaphor, sometimes! But, mostly, it's just not for me. I love Forever Knight for its complex interplay of history, mystery, and metaphysics, with what I continue to insist, against all fandom opposition, are its beautiful and rich themes of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong, self-sacrifice over selfishness, salvation over power. And I love Dracula by Stoker as B-grade imperial-panic Victorian literature that tapped into our common humanity at a depth it had no right to yet absolutely owns. I appreciate Carmilla by Le Fanu as literary innovation and accomplishment... BtVS and AtS, of course, for their early excellencies that you know well... the UK version of Being Human... a nod to Tanya Huff... and that's it. That's all. You may notice that none of these stories try to suggest that vampirism is a good thing.

(I opened Twilight once and retreated before the acute adverb poisoning. I'm pretty sure that I was too born too old to enjoy Twilight.)

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: determined

twistedchick

Some brilliant person spent untold time gleaning all of Dr. Johnny Fever's comments and the songs he was cueing up over the entire series, and made a 3-hour composite recording that is *BRILLIANT*. Information and the recording at this link. I am listening to it and it is so good!

twistedchick

Putting the Substack on hold has already had some effects. Since I'm not thinking about politics when I fall asleep, my dreams have returned -- in living color.

Night before last I was dreaming about an enormous library or bookstore that had been made out of a former doctor's office, with all the little office areas being different topics, and the books on the walls looked different colors and styles in each.

Last night I dreamed I was talking with Dolly Parton before she went onstage and noticed that her hair was not only touching the floor, it was long enough to trip her up. I managed to trim off about five inches that was in floor contact. Then after her concert she came back and asked me to go on a trip with her as thanks for keeping her from falling off the stage -- and we started off on a road trip. Somewhere in there she turned into Meryl Streep and wanted me to try a tiny heart-shaped hallucinogen as we drove off on the Southern Tier Expressway (which is not a place to go tripping.). And at that point I woke up.

Thanks for returning, Imagination!

sholio

Watched the first couple of episodes of the new season!

( Spoilers )

If you're watching it, no spoilers beyond episode 2, please!

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Arduinna

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Reading

Exchanges/Challenges

it's been way too long

Clarification about the actors in Glass Heart

DragonCon & BPAL?!

moar spinning

well, I still have a cousin or two

Fic in a Box Letter

Buh?

Foundation 3x03-06

spinning, cont'd

bangs head against wall

Dongji Rescue Premiere report

Murderbot TV fic: Hide and Seek

Fanfic workout buddies #309: “had been sincerely apologetic”

The Ninth of the Recced Book Reviews: America

Weekly proof of life: media intake and some boggling over actors

WinCo

New "vampiremedia" community

If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium

WKRP in Cincinnati! Dr. Johnny Fever!!

(no subject)

Foundation 3x01-02

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February 2023

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