A smattering of small things

Oct. 21st, 2025 03:35 pm
umadoshi: (autumn - bat art (insomniatic))
[personal profile] umadoshi
It was pouring rain when I woke up, and again, even if it didn't last long enough--I don't know what time it started, but it was pretty much gone by midmorning--it was appreciated. (Of course, I say that as someone working from home; one coworder who works onsite sometimes is in walking distance of the office, and walking to work today resulted in literally wringing clothing out in the kitchen sink upon arrival.)

That also meant it was dim enough at the start of my workday that turning on both strings of Hallowe'en lights in my office made actual sense! The purple/orange string around the edge of the ceiling is bright enough to be fun regardless, but the new string of ghosts around the window is backlit enough that actually turning the lights on makes little sense during the day. (And these years I spend so little evening time in my office, Dayjob crunches notwithstanding.)

I checked in on my freelance schedule yesterday and found out that things have been rearranged in a way that makes the rest of this month and November pretty light, early December a bit much (although some of the work due then can be done in November, theoretically), and January a bit of an onslaught. It should be fine! Just. Ooof. (At least January isn't a typical crunch time, although anything's possible.) This also gives me a bit more motivation to extend my vacation time after Christmas.

At some point today Pokemon Go rolled out its seasonal Hallowe'en skin, which inevitably charms me all out of proportion.

There were other things in my head this morning, but of course the Dayjob workday quietly wiped them away, so we'll call this a post.
flareonfury: (American Werewolf)
[personal profile] flareonfury posting in [community profile] fandom_icons
Icons made for [community profile] seasons_of_fandom 

DC Icons
[03] Vampire!Babara Gordon
[01] Vampire!Damien Wayne
[01] Witch!Wonder Woman
[01] Dick Grayson & Pumpkins
[02] Pamela Isley
[01] Zatanna Zatara

Marvel Icons
[02] Kitty/Vampire!Ororo Munroe
[01] Kitty Pryde & slime monster
[01] Vampire!Matt Murdock
[02] Vampire!Steve Rogers

Other Icons:
[03] An American Werewolf of London

umadoshi: (tomatoes 01)
[personal profile] umadoshi
Reading: As of midweek, I'd read nine novels (well, eight and a novella) this month, which is very pleasing given that I usually consider that a good number for a full month, never mind just about halfway through one. (Of course, for the last few days my brain's done an about-face and decided that I'm going to be just reading a cookbook now, thanks.)

Since my last accounting, I've finished KJ Charles' All of Us Murderers (gothic murdery queer romance), Freya Marske's Cinder House (which I wish I'd realized going in--or perhaps more importantly, when I bought it at full price--is a novella, although that didn't keep me from enjoying it quite a bit), Stephen Graham Jones' The Only Good Indians (very solid, but I feel I've met my quota for books with mutilation for a while), Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle (not so much my thing, maybe [whatever that is], but I sure see why it's a classic!), and E.K. Johnston's Pretty Furious (a satisfying "~good girls~ lash back at the fucking patriarchy and its associated bullshit" read).

Now I'm reading through the aforementioned cookbook, Bee Wilson's The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen, which swiftly made its way onto the inherently-aggravating-but-complimentary list of cookbooks bought in ebook that I now want in hard copy.

Also, [personal profile] scruloose and I are...maybe a third?...of the way into Fugitive Telemetry (having decided to listen to Murderbot in chronological order rather than publication order).

Growing: In a shocking development, our Tiny Tim tomato plant (which we bought immediately before the drought turned unmistakable official, and therefore have since watered once or at most twice since putting it in) has produced a couple handfuls of ripe fruit! [personal profile] scruloose reports that they're tasty! We're over halfway through October!

AWS outage

Oct. 20th, 2025 10:11 am
alierak: (Default)
[personal profile] alierak posting in [site community profile] dw_maintenance
DW is seeing some issues due to today's Amazon outage. For right now it looks like the site is loading, but it may be slow. Some of our processes like notifications and journal search don't appear to be running and can't be started due to rate limiting or capacity issues. DW could go down later if Amazon isn't able to improve things soon, but our services should return to normal when Amazon has cleared up the outage.

Edit: all services are running as of 16:12 CDT, but there is definitely still a backlog of notifications to get through.

Edit 2: and at 18:20 CDT everything's been running normally for about the last hour.

Yuletide 2025 Dear Author letter

Oct. 19th, 2025 03:19 pm
ellen_fremedon: overlapping pages from Beowulf manuscript, one with a large rubric, on a maroon ground (Default)
[personal profile] ellen_fremedon
Dear Yuletide Author:

Thank you for writing a story for me! I love it already!

If you have a story in mind in any of the fandoms I requested, go for it--I will love pretty much anything for these sources. I love worldbuilding, I love character-focused fic, I love smut of all stripes, and I love gen. I want to read what you want to write.

In all of these fandoms, I am especially interested in any or all of the following:

--Nontraditional relationship dynamics and the way people find or build a niche for themselves in a world with strict rules--about gender and relationships and everything else.

--Seeing the characters deal with actual historical figures and events and inventions--ones offstage or coming up post-canon, or more detail on events during canon.

--Material culture: how they decorate their rooms, what they have for dinner, how they dress. These fandoms are all made for lavish descriptions of fashion--the men's no less than the women's!


If you are here as a pinch hitter: I'm so sorry. I have all historical fandoms this year. Fortunately they are all fairly short: two stand-alone novels, one film, and one TV series of 6 30-minute episodes. The one that will probably need the least amount of historical research is Mademoiselle de Maupin, which is extremely vague about what year or even what century it's set in.


One general DNW: Animal cruelty. I can handle non-graphic descriptions of hunting, butchery, or veterinary work, but please, nothing with an element of punishment or betrayal--no deliberate harm to animals by people they trust.


Mademoiselle de Maupin - Théophile Gautier )

Horace - George Sand )

Quacks (TV) )

Impromptu (1991) )
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
[personal profile] aurumcalendula posting in [community profile] vidding
Title: Until We Go Down
Fandom: 유령 | Phantom (2023)
Music: Until We Go Down by Ruelle
Summary: 'I need that fire just to know that I'm awake'
Notes: Premiered at Virtual [community profile] confabcon 2025!
Warnings: quick cuts and flashing lights, blood, violence, lots of smoking

AO3 | bsky | DW | tumblr | YouTube
likeadeuce: (Default)
[personal profile] likeadeuce
I wrote yuletide promo posts (or just recommendations for two movies I love):

2024's Babygirl (office romance with age gaps and adultery, but in a tender way) and

2013's Inside Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac! The Coen Brothers! Mid-century American folk music! A cat! Llewyn Davis walking so Patrick Zweig could run!)

This is Shit - a Murderbot vid

Oct. 18th, 2025 08:17 am
valoise: (Default)
[personal profile] valoise posting in [community profile] vidding
Title: This is Shit
Fandom: Murderbot
Music: Well This is Shit by Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq
Summary: Life's hard for a rogue SecUnit

Streaming at:
DW | AO3 | Youtube
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
[personal profile] china_shop posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purply sky with stars. Text reads "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org."


Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.

Episode 4, up to 22:30

Summary
Zhao Yunlan catches Shen Wei at a crime scene and takes him back to the SID for questioning. Zhu Hong and Chu Shuzhi both have a crack at it, but Shen Wei is unflappable. Zhao Yunlan lets him go. Lin Jing complains about the lack of evidence. Chu Shuzhi and Xiao-Guo catch Lin Yusen at the morgue, and the SID questions him. Lin Yusen takes Zhao Yunlan to see a crime scene, and on the way, Shen Wei joins them. During a minor attack, Shen Wei's arm is cut; he heals it in front of Zhao Yunlan. Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei, and the supposed victim of the attack go to a tea shop; Zhao Yunlan is unconvinced by the victim's story but assigns Xiao-Guo to walk her home. Her boyfriend is jealous. Zhu Hong sets herself up as bait in a sting. Meanwhile, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei take a night-time stroll patrol the area and talk about names and intimate friendship. <3 <3 <3 Then everyone is decoyed/captured/drugged, all at once. Zhu Jiu dark-energy-glues Shen Wei's feet to the ground.



Quote
Zhao Yunlan: If my mum knew I had an intellectual like you as a friend, she'd be bursting with joy.
Shen Wei: What's precious between friends is intimacy. If she saw you now, she would definitely be happy.

Detail
I love the juxtaposition of: 1) Zhao Yunlan being inadvertently distracted by Lin Yusen, 2) Shen Wei's foot being stuck to the ground, and 3) Zhu Jiu's lurking, while elsewhere 4) Da Qing is drugged with poisonous gas, 5) Chu Shuzhi runs towards the screams only to find they're a recording, 6) Zhu Hong is kidnapped, 7) Lin Jing watches helplessly from his lab, and 8) Chu Shuzhi speeds back to the site of the sting to find Zhu Hong gone.

Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 4? A favourite part of the interrogation scene, specifically? Are there any other SID members you would have liked to see interrogate Shen Wei? (*koff* all of them!! *koff*) Do you sympathise with Lin Yusen? How does Zhao Yunlan justify to himself allowing Shen Wei to join the investigation, after telling Lin Yusen, "A professional's job should be done by professionals"? If you can remember your first watch, did you find Zhang Danni suspicious at this stage? Does Zhao Yunlan know Zhu Hong and the others have set a trap for the serial killer? How could they have set their trap more effectively? Who do you think is the most competent member of the SID (excluding Zhao Yunlan), at this stage? How heart-clutchy is the "intimate friendship" conversation on a scale of 1 to 10,000? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares?

(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)

And here is our schedule, where you can sign up to host a post!
umadoshi: (pumpkin pie (icons_by_mea))
[personal profile] umadoshi
I somehow mentally misplaced a week when we were booking our covid/flu shots and I was looking at the last market date of the season for the little one on the corner. Unsure how my brain concluded that they were on the same day. (Market's last day is tomorrow, shots are a week from tomorrow, so it's FINE, just...odd.)

The rest of this is entirely about what we did for our little Thanksgiving dinner (with a bit of blood glucose talk), so it's going under a cut. cut! )

Wednesday Reading Meme

Oct. 15th, 2025 05:35 pm
sineala: Detail of Harry Wilson Watrous, "Just a Couple of Girls" (Reading)
[personal profile] sineala
What I Just Finished Reading

Nothing.

What I'm Reading Now

Comics Wednesday!

Captain America #4, Iron and Frost #1, One World Under Doom #8 )

What I'm Reading Next

I have read eight books this year. I do not have enough brain to read anything except, apparently, a couple comics a week.

Dear Yuletide writer:

Oct. 14th, 2025 08:32 pm
likeadeuce: (Default)
[personal profile] likeadeuce
These are my requests: Kink, tennis, and the cinematic folk music extended universe.

1. Babygirl(2024) )

2. Challengers (2024) )

3.Women's Tennis RPF )


4. History of Sound (2025) (This prompt could be considered a spoiler) )

5. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) )

6. A Complete Unknown (2024) )

Dear Yuletide 2025 Author

Oct. 13th, 2025 11:09 am
thefourthvine: A weird festive creature. Text: "Yuletide squee!" (Yuletide Woot!)
[personal profile] thefourthvine
Dear Yuletide Writer,

Hi!

I am going to provide you with all the details I can, because that is who I am as a person. Thank you so, so much for writing in one of these fandoms. See you on the 25th!

Likes/DNWs and General Stuff )


Between Silk and Cyanide -- Leo Marks, Leo Marks, Forest Yeo-Thomas )


blink-182 )


Blue Prince, Worldbuildling, Simon P. Jones )


Nomads, Eileen Flax, Veronique Pommier )
jesse_the_k: kitty pawing the surface of vinyl record (scratch this!)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k

[personal profile] sonia introduced me to Windborne, the acapella group from Massachusetts. Their version of "The Grey Funnel line" makes my head go sproing in a pleasant fashion.

uncaptioned video within )

I’ve loved this 20th century ballad since I first encountered it on Silly Sisters in 1976. I recently learned that Cyril Tawney wrote the song as he was leaving the UK’s Royal Navy, called "Gray Funnel Line" by those who toiled there. Full lyrics at that link.

trobadora: (Black-Cloaked Envoy)
[personal profile] trobadora posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purple sky with stars. Text reads, "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid_guardian.dreamwidth.org"


Hi, welcome to this week's instalment of the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch! Watch half an episode a week, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!

Here is last week's half-episode. On to the second half!

Episode 3, from 23:25

Summary: Zhao Yunlan goes to Shen Wei to confirm the identity of the third student involved in what happened to Zhang Ruonan. (Which involves gesturing with a letter opener, because Zhao Yunlan. :D) He arrives back just in time to find Wang Yike killing Liu Yidong. Oops. Zhang Ruonan physically tackles Zhao Yunlan and confesses to the murders herself to stop him from catching Wang Yike. Meanwhile Wang Yike has decided Shen Wei is suspicious (well ...), and the SID arrives just in time to intervene in her attack in him. Zhang Ruonan accidentally touches Wang Yike's bare hand and has most of her life energy drained. They have a tearful goodbye, and everyone is very affected. Afterwards, we discover that someone secretly neutralised Wang Yike's power, and that despite being taken away by the Envoy, Shen Wei nonetheless brought her to reunite with Zhang Ruonan.

Shen Wei saves Zhang Ruonan

And then we start a new case! There's a series of murders where the victims' faces are turned completely blank. Zhao Yunlan et al. are investigating. (Lin Jing and Zhu Hong both seem to be mostly complaining. :p) Meanwhile Shen Wei is searching for the Hallows, and encounters Zhu Jiu for the first time. Following screams, the SID finds a cowering woman, and ... Shen Wei.

Quote:

Let me just offer you two contrasting quotes, because damn, the range:
  • "Professor Shen said a stolen life is hard to maintain, but a promise can remain constant for thousands of years. Chief says such a relationship is called 'Guarding'. It's even more passionate than love and greater than familial love. I hope I can stay at the SID and become someone who can guard everyone."

  • "Ever seen a snake who likes to walk?"
Detail:

Lin Jing's map when he's tracking Wang Yike's phone shows the location of the university within Dragon City, on the northern side of the river. This aligns with Zhu Hong saying in episode 4 that the university is in the north!

Questions:

What's your favourite moment in this part of the episode? Did anything stand out to you as coming from the novel?

What was Zhao Yunlan thinking, leaving Zhang Ruonan with Liu Yadong unguarded, when he already suspected Liu Yadong? Is this the first time Zhao Yunlan has sympathised with a Dixingren? How often does the Envoy secretly let people go? How did Zhang Ruonan know about Dixing? Do you ship Zhang Ruonan and Wang Yike? When did Shen Wei decide to move closer to Zhao Yunlan?

For the start of the next case, why are Shen Wei, Zhu Jiu and the SID all in the same area? And finally, have you ever seen a snake who likes to walk? *g*

(These are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in!)

And here is our schedule - please do sign up to host a post if you can!
facethestrange: (guardian: weilan: yohe kiss)
[personal profile] facethestrange posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
I'm not sure if sharing what I made for [community profile] guardian_wishlist is a thing (since the collection itself was already shared to the comm), but I can't add all these links to a regular post because there were 10 of them revealed on the same day. :D (Normally I include 4-5 in one post.) So here they are, under a cut this time. :)

5 ficlets (all dramaverse):
2x Weilan
1x Zhu Hong & Shen Wei
1x Ye Zun/Lin Jing
1x Ye Zun & Sang Zan

click )

5 drawings:
3x drama Weilan (one with Da Qing)
2x Zhubai (one in novelverse AU)

click )

multifandom icons.

Oct. 12th, 2025 01:27 pm
wickedgame: we're all fucked up (Nat | Yellowjackets)
[personal profile] wickedgame posting in [community profile] fandom_icons
Fandoms: Bed Friend, Echo, Euphoria, Fallout, Hawkeye, I Will Turn Back This Time, Jessica Jones, Killing Eve, Legends of Tomorrow, Mako Mermaids, Moon Knight, Motorheads, Mr. Robot, Ransom Canyon, Superman & Lois, Wednesday, Yellowjackets

lot-7x02.png ransomcanyon-1x07.png superman&lois-2x01.png
rest HERE
[community profile] mundodefieras 

Profile

barometry: solid wall of paperbacks stacked up (Default)
Barometry Jones

November 2022

S M T W T F S
  12345
6789101112
1314151617 1819
20212223242526
27282930   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Oct. 21st, 2025 08:44 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios