vaunted
Mar. 6th, 2026 12:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
merriamwebster_feedMerriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 6, 2026 is:
vaunted • \VAWN-tud\ • adjective
Vaunted describes someone or something that is often spoken of or described as very good or great.
// The team’s vaunted defense faltered in the second half of the game.
Examples:
“After much initial hype, the much vaunted new production partnership fizzled out after just two seasons, leaving the franchise scrambling for a new direction and without a lead actor in its signature role.” — Lacy Baugher, Den of Geek, 22 Jan. 2026
Did you know?
The verb vaunt has been used since the 15th century with the meaning “to make a vain display of one’s own worth or attainments”—in other words, “to brag or boast.” Over time, vaunt developed the meaning “to boast of (a particular thing),” as in “the promotional flier vaunts the natural beauty of the area,” and that use gave rise to the adjectival form vaunted. The history of vaunt and vaunted leads back to the Latin word vānus, with the meanings “lacking content, empty, illusory, marked by foolish or empty pride.” The word vain itself is also a descendant of vānus.
LW isn't sure about punishment for son's inappropriate illustration
Mar. 5th, 2026 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firebatvillain posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
agonyauntDear Care and Feeding,
Two weeks ago my wife and I received a call from the school our 10-year-old son, “Josh” attends. Apparently, Josh was angry with his teacher, “Mrs. Smith,” after he was kept in from recess for playing with his phone during class. So he drew a picture.
The drawing was of his teacher in a compromising position with a dog. It circulated among the students, one of whom ultimately ratted him out. We had to attend a conference with Mrs. Smith and the principal, and Josh ended up with a week’s suspension. He’s been grounded for the next month, but his best friend’s birthday falls during that time period. My wife thinks he should be made to skip the party. I think that’s excessive and punishes not only Josh, but his friend as well and we’ve been at odds over it since. I don’t think making an exception will diminish the lesson we are trying to teach Josh about his behavior. Thoughts?
—Doodle Debacle
( Read more... )
Two weeks ago my wife and I received a call from the school our 10-year-old son, “Josh” attends. Apparently, Josh was angry with his teacher, “Mrs. Smith,” after he was kept in from recess for playing with his phone during class. So he drew a picture.
The drawing was of his teacher in a compromising position with a dog. It circulated among the students, one of whom ultimately ratted him out. We had to attend a conference with Mrs. Smith and the principal, and Josh ended up with a week’s suspension. He’s been grounded for the next month, but his best friend’s birthday falls during that time period. My wife thinks he should be made to skip the party. I think that’s excessive and punishes not only Josh, but his friend as well and we’ve been at odds over it since. I don’t think making an exception will diminish the lesson we are trying to teach Josh about his behavior. Thoughts?
—Doodle Debacle
( Read more... )
Rest Easy -- Later
Mar. 5th, 2026 11:15 pmbillroperI got the notice that our replacement mattress has shipped and should be here in a week. My lower back is greatly looking forward to this -- except, perhaps, for what it's going to take to get it upstairs and onto the bed. The shipping notice says that the mattress weighs 150 pounds. Whee!
US and Venezuela agree to resume diplomatic ties after Maduro capture
Mar. 6th, 2026 04:23 ambbcnewsworld_feedThe US said the two sides would make joint efforts to promote stability after the US seized Maduro and his wife.
Anthropic vows to sue Pentagon over risk designation
Mar. 6th, 2026 02:46 ambbcnewsworld_feedThe supply chain risk designation of the artificial intelligence firm is a first for a US company.
Ukraine accuses Hungary of taking seven people hostage
Mar. 6th, 2026 02:13 ambbcnewsworld_feedThe employees were in two cars carrying $80m (£60m) worth of cash between Austria and Ukraine.
Britney Spears arrested in California on suspicion of driving under the influence
Mar. 6th, 2026 12:51 ambbcnewsworld_feedThe singer was arrested by the California Highway Patrol at around 21:30 PT (05:30 GMT) on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan says Iran struck its territory, as war spills over border
Mar. 5th, 2026 09:33 pmbbcnewsworld_feedPresident Ilham Aliyev says drone strikes are "act of terror" as he places armed forces on high alert.
How to stop a heart
Mar. 5th, 2026 11:33 pmcornerofmadnesshave an EKG and then have someone from the clinic calls you to talk about it. Since they almost never call you for a normal, I'm like OMG I'm dying. No, my doctor was just exercising caution. the EKG is 'mostly normal' but there was no more details. They posted the strip in a blurry pic to my portal. I'm assuming they mean the tachycardia. I'll see the new cardiologist in a couple weeks so we shall see.
No one came to micro today. I'll point out spring break doesn't start until Monday. out of 40 students I had 10. And being the bitch I am I had a test in anatomy today (found out there's one tomorrow for my ultrasound students) most of the sports teams were gone and someone cheated on the exam. I didn't catch them (it's hard I'm in a hole in an auditorium and even if I walk up and down the steps, I take steps SO slowly they have warning so what's the point. Another pissed off student turned them in. I'm saying nothing but I know how they're cheating and next test, without warning, I'm taking all that away. (i.e. every phone must be placed on MY table)
I wish I could stay over near Cinci for more than 24 hours tomorrow. there is SO MUCH food Restaurants of every kind. I'm thinking Korean. Oooo the choices.
No one came to micro today. I'll point out spring break doesn't start until Monday. out of 40 students I had 10. And being the bitch I am I had a test in anatomy today (found out there's one tomorrow for my ultrasound students) most of the sports teams were gone and someone cheated on the exam. I didn't catch them (it's hard I'm in a hole in an auditorium and even if I walk up and down the steps, I take steps SO slowly they have warning so what's the point. Another pissed off student turned them in. I'm saying nothing but I know how they're cheating and next test, without warning, I'm taking all that away. (i.e. every phone must be placed on MY table)
I wish I could stay over near Cinci for more than 24 hours tomorrow. there is SO MUCH food Restaurants of every kind. I'm thinking Korean. Oooo the choices.
Daily Happiness
Mar. 5th, 2026 08:19 pmtorachan1. Well, I was expecting to just WFH and go to the nearby store for a bit, but I got a message in the morning that the person I wanted to talk to at the store had called out sick, so I ended up going to Gardena instead, which worked out as I did have a meeting in the afternoon and some stuff to do that was easier to do from the office than from home.
2. Yet another Santa Ana is blowing through and the weather is suuuuuper dry. I do prefer dry to humid, but I wish we would get more of something in between. The high temps for this weekend's accompanying hot spell are not supposed to be as high as last weekend's, though, so that's good.
3. Carla got the most amazing picture of Ollie yesterday. Look at that little mouth!!
2. Yet another Santa Ana is blowing through and the weather is suuuuuper dry. I do prefer dry to humid, but I wish we would get more of something in between. The high temps for this weekend's accompanying hot spell are not supposed to be as high as last weekend's, though, so that's good.
3. Carla got the most amazing picture of Ollie yesterday. Look at that little mouth!!
Me-and-media update
Mar. 6th, 2026 04:41 pmchina_shopPrevious poll review
In the spam SPAM spam poll, 52% of respondents only check their spam folder when they're looking for a specific thing, 30% check it maybe once a month, 10% weekly, and 8% daily. (This question was inspired by gmail sending multiple emails in the middle of threads to spam, wtf.)
In ticky-boxes, blanket cocoons and comfort food came second to hugs, 62% to 74%. Judgy koalas came third with 56%. Thank you for your votes! ♥
Reading
I read Courtney Milan's The Earl Who Isn't, which was just as enjoyable at the others in the series. Her kissing and UST are excellent, and I love everyone in Wedgeford.
Bounced off Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield, with prejudice. (That was one of my library books.) The first "chapter" (of three in the entire book) was a blow-by-blow account of working backstage at SNL; the second "chapter" (which I flicked through) was lockdown correspondence. I didn't like either of the characters.
I don't know what I'm reading next. Or listening to on my own. But Andrew and I have about 2.5 hours left in Barrayar.
Kdramas
Oh no, I finished One Spring Night and kind of... went back to the beginning and started it again. With occasional diversions into Something in the Rain (which ha, is by the same writer, as well as having vast numbers of cast members in common, so that explains that). At some point I'll emerge from this Jung Hae In fever dream and start something else.
Pru and I finished Family by Choice (I LOVE IT SO MUCH), and next week we're starting Love Scout (\o/).
Other TV
We're on the final disk of extras for Return of the King, and that'll be it. It's stressful seeing the last-minute absolute chaos behind the scenes, but also kind of magical. Still going on The Pitt, and we've watched a couple of episodes of Dinosaur, a UK sitcom about two sisters, one of whom is autistic. I like it!
Got a few things lined up: new seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer and Dark Winds, more Scavengers Reign, there were probably some other things, idk.
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, some Better Offline, some What Matters Most (chatty general life psychology/advice), Cross Party Lines (local politics), Letters from an American (just a few /o\), Heaving Bosoms (chatty recaps of romance novels, just for something relaxing to put in my ears), Movie Briefs (lawyers talk about law movies, ditto).
Online life
*hugs you all, so much*
...
Writing/making things
My Yuletide treat is at beta at last. \o/ Now I've started in on my Yuletide assignment fic, unfinished at 7k words. I'm imposing a new structure on it to see if that might make it more finishable. No drawing practice.
Life/health/mental state things
Idk, I'm okay. Getting some things done, at least. Getting a fair amount of sleep and exercise. Doing righteous battle with my health insurer. Spending too much time tweaking my new phone to make it behave how I want.
Goals
This week: make a batch of vegetarian dumplings, make a mini quiche in the air fryer. All my goals are food, hi!
Good things
Sunshine. Helpful, supportive people. The 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange is coming soon! Kitty. New phone is mostly behaving itself. We went to a delightfully geeky talk about dragonflies.
In the spam SPAM spam poll, 52% of respondents only check their spam folder when they're looking for a specific thing, 30% check it maybe once a month, 10% weekly, and 8% daily. (This question was inspired by gmail sending multiple emails in the middle of threads to spam, wtf.)
In ticky-boxes, blanket cocoons and comfort food came second to hugs, 62% to 74%. Judgy koalas came third with 56%. Thank you for your votes! ♥
Reading
I read Courtney Milan's The Earl Who Isn't, which was just as enjoyable at the others in the series. Her kissing and UST are excellent, and I love everyone in Wedgeford.
Bounced off Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield, with prejudice. (That was one of my library books.) The first "chapter" (of three in the entire book) was a blow-by-blow account of working backstage at SNL; the second "chapter" (which I flicked through) was lockdown correspondence. I didn't like either of the characters.
I don't know what I'm reading next. Or listening to on my own. But Andrew and I have about 2.5 hours left in Barrayar.
Kdramas
Oh no, I finished One Spring Night and kind of... went back to the beginning and started it again. With occasional diversions into Something in the Rain (which ha, is by the same writer, as well as having vast numbers of cast members in common, so that explains that). At some point I'll emerge from this Jung Hae In fever dream and start something else.
Pru and I finished Family by Choice (I LOVE IT SO MUCH), and next week we're starting Love Scout (\o/).
Other TV
We're on the final disk of extras for Return of the King, and that'll be it. It's stressful seeing the last-minute absolute chaos behind the scenes, but also kind of magical. Still going on The Pitt, and we've watched a couple of episodes of Dinosaur, a UK sitcom about two sisters, one of whom is autistic. I like it!
Got a few things lined up: new seasons of The Lincoln Lawyer and Dark Winds, more Scavengers Reign, there were probably some other things, idk.
Audio entertainment
Writing Excuses, some Better Offline, some What Matters Most (chatty general life psychology/advice), Cross Party Lines (local politics), Letters from an American (just a few /o\), Heaving Bosoms (chatty recaps of romance novels, just for something relaxing to put in my ears), Movie Briefs (lawyers talk about law movies, ditto).
Online life
*hugs you all, so much*
...
Writing/making things
My Yuletide treat is at beta at last. \o/ Now I've started in on my Yuletide assignment fic, unfinished at 7k words. I'm imposing a new structure on it to see if that might make it more finishable. No drawing practice.
Life/health/mental state things
Idk, I'm okay. Getting some things done, at least. Getting a fair amount of sleep and exercise. Doing righteous battle with my health insurer. Spending too much time tweaking my new phone to make it behave how I want.
Goals
This week: make a batch of vegetarian dumplings, make a mini quiche in the air fryer. All my goals are food, hi!
Good things
Sunshine. Helpful, supportive people. The 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange is coming soon! Kitty. New phone is mostly behaving itself. We went to a delightfully geeky talk about dragonflies.
Poll #34329 Being an audience
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8
In the last six months, I've been (in person) to
View Answers
cinema
4 (50.0%)
theatre
1 (12.5%)
live music gig
2 (25.0%)
ballet
0 (0.0%)
opera
0 (0.0%)
sports game
0 (0.0%)
other
0 (0.0%)
ticky-box full of bakery treats
5 (62.5%)
ticky-box full of keeping a paper appointment diary
2 (25.0%)
ticky-box full of rambling around the podcast 'verse getting your ears dirty
2 (25.0%)
ticky-box full of softly squishable snow puppies snuggling in a heap
4 (50.0%)
ticky-box full of hugs to you all <3 <3 <3
5 (62.5%)
Fatal Frame 2 Remake demo impressions
Mar. 5th, 2026 06:24 pmestiroseSo the demo for the 2nd Fatal Frame 2 remake (basically, there was the original, then the Wii remake, and now this one) came out and it works just fine on the Steam Deck.
The community has discovered that a great deal of the outside areas are available (but obviously all the buildings are locked). I haven't poked around because I'm more interested in the gameplay. Said gameplay is pretty much chapter 1 of the game - wandering around the first house and encountering a ghost twice.
Needless to say, now that I know it works on the Steam Deck, I've purchased the deluxe version of the remake for download and playing next week.
There's a new handholding mechanic that I love very much - I've always felt bad that Mayu, the sister, is always left limping behind you, and it makes so much sense to hold hands with her. (The healing mechanic does not hurt.)
Other things:
* There are minor changes to things - Sae is missing her dialogue outside the Osaka house, the newspaper article about Masumi is found in the Osaka house instead of the trail to the village, Miyako's ghost heads in a different direction than in earlier games, the flashlight is found in a different location, etc.
* Save points have item shops, like Fatal Frame 4. (Another concept that was a thing in Fatal Frame 4 also makes a return, but not in the demo - however, you can see it if you go into photo mode.)
* You now have willpower, which depletes when a ghost attacks you, and health. If your willpower goes to 0, then ghosts start draining your health.
* Miyako, who is essentially the tutorial ghost for this game and normally a fairly easy ghost, whipped my behind. I didn't die, but I came really really close. (I replayed both of her battles in this chapter.) She charges at you a lot, and if you're not used to it - especially early on in the fight - she will take a chunk out of you. Part of the issue is that you need to aim the camera in her face, and sometimes her face is a bit hard to find. Yay upgraded graphics?
The community has discovered that a great deal of the outside areas are available (but obviously all the buildings are locked). I haven't poked around because I'm more interested in the gameplay. Said gameplay is pretty much chapter 1 of the game - wandering around the first house and encountering a ghost twice.
Needless to say, now that I know it works on the Steam Deck, I've purchased the deluxe version of the remake for download and playing next week.
There's a new handholding mechanic that I love very much - I've always felt bad that Mayu, the sister, is always left limping behind you, and it makes so much sense to hold hands with her. (The healing mechanic does not hurt.)
Other things:
* There are minor changes to things - Sae is missing her dialogue outside the Osaka house, the newspaper article about Masumi is found in the Osaka house instead of the trail to the village, Miyako's ghost heads in a different direction than in earlier games, the flashlight is found in a different location, etc.
* Save points have item shops, like Fatal Frame 4. (Another concept that was a thing in Fatal Frame 4 also makes a return, but not in the demo - however, you can see it if you go into photo mode.)
* You now have willpower, which depletes when a ghost attacks you, and health. If your willpower goes to 0, then ghosts start draining your health.
* Miyako, who is essentially the tutorial ghost for this game and normally a fairly easy ghost, whipped my behind. I didn't die, but I came really really close. (I replayed both of her battles in this chapter.) She charges at you a lot, and if you're not used to it - especially early on in the fight - she will take a chunk out of you. Part of the issue is that you need to aim the camera in her face, and sometimes her face is a bit hard to find. Yay upgraded graphics?
My Hugo Nominees for Best Novel; 2 Purrcies
Mar. 5th, 2026 09:38 pmmecurtinTail vs cat, the never-ending battle! Purrcy was fast and fierce, but that darn tail keeps being faster!
Purrcy was being extremely round, so I had to check if he was also being warm and soft. Answer: he was. He was a bit doubtful at being checked out, though, he'd rather just be round.
Here is my list of Hugo Nominees for Best Novel, alphabetical by author. Those of you who nominate, do you think there's an social stigma against publicly listing your nominees? With pitches?
The Witch Roads, Kate Elliott. Standing in for the Witch Roads Duology. Elliott has become one of my favorite writers because she so resolutely undercuts "[story] status is hereditary", a trope of the majority of fantasy novels that looks worse every week, as I see what nepo kids do in the real world.
The Witch Roads is Elen, a Deputy Courier in the Imperial-China-esque Tranquil Empire who gets caught up in the machinations of princes and demons, when all she wants to do is keep her head down, walk her circuit carrying mail, talking to people, keeping an eye out for deadly Spore infestations and stopping them before they spread, and seeing her beloved nephew Kem on his way in life.
Kem is trans, and though his coming-out struggles are part of his character development (he's just 18, finding identity is complicated) it's neither The Most Traumatic Thing Ever nor is it glossed over as nothing in particular.
One reason I love Elliott is that she often writes from the POV of non-elites who don't think elites (princes, emperors, billionaires, etc.) are that great, and she maintains it, she doesn't fall into the "except for this one" trap. This is *so* rare, even writers who are making a determined, conscious effort to avoid what Pratchett described as our "major design flaw, [the] tendency to bend at the knees" will still fall into it -- e.g. by having crucial non-elite characters we've identified with turn out to be close family members of the leading elite (royalty, rich people, etc.). Which the writers do to add family drama to the mix, but which also falls back into the old, OLD trap of "only the families of the elites count as Real People".
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones. It's structured as a mostly-epistolary story, with an outer 1st-person narration by Etsy Beaucarne, a present-day white woman Communications Prof who's transcribing letters and diary entries written by her ancestor Arthur Beaucarne in 1912. Many of the diary entries transcribe a set of interviews with a Piegan Blackfoot Indian vampire, Good Stab. (Yes, I saw what Jones did there, with interviewing a vampire. I'm sure he meant to do it.) Some of the horror is vampire-related horror, but a fair bit is historical horror, especially related to the Marias Massacre.
For me, a wimp about horror, the epistolary form & the interview within it gave me enough insulation that I could read without being overwhelmed. (The lack of insulation is why visual horror is pretty much always a no-go for me, it gets too far into my brain & won't get out.) I think Jones used this structure to ease the (presumptive) white reader, though tougher than me, into the Indian POV. First we have the present-day white POV, then a blatantly racist, foolish past white POV we can easily treat as an unreliable narrator**, which makes the reader work to figure out what really happened with Good Stab, as we get his story filtered through Arthur. And because we the readers have to do so much work to piece the story together, it acts as an enthymeme: a story or argument that's more persuasive because the audience has connected some of the dots themselves.
I started to write more, but deleted it because so much of the pleasure of a book like this comes from connecting the dots yourself, from following the author's clues to get a picture of their world- (& monster-) building. If I was forced to pick *one* book for Best Novel or at least Book of the Year, this would be it. It won't be the one I re-read the most, but it's the most significant. The fact that it could be part of a matched set with "Sinners" can't be coincidence.
Saltcrop, Yume Kitasei. Post-this-apocalypse story of three sisters. Nora, the eldest, is the idealist who left a decade ago for a big-city education, trying to learn about crop diseases that plague their world, for which the only solution seems to be genetically-engineered resistant varieties from corporations. Carmen is the one with social skills, who takes care of the horrible grandmother they live with. Skipper is the boat-builder and sailor, skilled with her hands but not with people. They all get POVs, they all have problems, they all love each other fiercely even though they're pretty terrible at saying it.
The story begins when Carmen and Skipper get a message saying Nora is in trouble, not doing well after all. They have to work together to go after her, first to the city, then following her across an icy ocean and beyond. They're struggling to take of each other, but also, especially Nora, to build a better world, to use knowledge and community to push back against the corporations and the mess they've made of things. One of the VERY few novels I've read recently that reflects the current moment of crisis AND what actually works to struggle against it: not violent rebellion, not targeted assassination, but community, solidarity, caring for *everyone*.
Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor. A meta-book about writing, story-telling, who's-the-author, who's-the-audience, being Nigerian and American, and disability. I also googled "jollof rice near me", because it made me hungry for home cooking from a cuisine I've never tasted.
The Isle in the Silver Sea, Tasha Suri. I'm glad people who read ARCs recced this one, otherwise I would have skipped it as looking too much like a conventional romantasy, if f/f. Instead it's a book about the stories the English tell and re-tell, who gets to tell them, how they shape imaginations and are shaped in turn. It's about *all* the Matters of Britain: Arthurian, Shakespearean, Dickensian, Imperial, and more.
Purrcy was being extremely round, so I had to check if he was also being warm and soft. Answer: he was. He was a bit doubtful at being checked out, though, he'd rather just be round.
Here is my list of Hugo Nominees for Best Novel, alphabetical by author. Those of you who nominate, do you think there's an social stigma against publicly listing your nominees? With pitches?
The Witch Roads, Kate Elliott. Standing in for the Witch Roads Duology. Elliott has become one of my favorite writers because she so resolutely undercuts "[story] status is hereditary", a trope of the majority of fantasy novels that looks worse every week, as I see what nepo kids do in the real world.
The Witch Roads is Elen, a Deputy Courier in the Imperial-China-esque Tranquil Empire who gets caught up in the machinations of princes and demons, when all she wants to do is keep her head down, walk her circuit carrying mail, talking to people, keeping an eye out for deadly Spore infestations and stopping them before they spread, and seeing her beloved nephew Kem on his way in life.
Kem is trans, and though his coming-out struggles are part of his character development (he's just 18, finding identity is complicated) it's neither The Most Traumatic Thing Ever nor is it glossed over as nothing in particular.
One reason I love Elliott is that she often writes from the POV of non-elites who don't think elites (princes, emperors, billionaires, etc.) are that great, and she maintains it, she doesn't fall into the "except for this one" trap. This is *so* rare, even writers who are making a determined, conscious effort to avoid what Pratchett described as our "major design flaw, [the] tendency to bend at the knees" will still fall into it -- e.g. by having crucial non-elite characters we've identified with turn out to be close family members of the leading elite (royalty, rich people, etc.). Which the writers do to add family drama to the mix, but which also falls back into the old, OLD trap of "only the families of the elites count as Real People".
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones. It's structured as a mostly-epistolary story, with an outer 1st-person narration by Etsy Beaucarne, a present-day white woman Communications Prof who's transcribing letters and diary entries written by her ancestor Arthur Beaucarne in 1912. Many of the diary entries transcribe a set of interviews with a Piegan Blackfoot Indian vampire, Good Stab. (Yes, I saw what Jones did there, with interviewing a vampire. I'm sure he meant to do it.) Some of the horror is vampire-related horror, but a fair bit is historical horror, especially related to the Marias Massacre.
For me, a wimp about horror, the epistolary form & the interview within it gave me enough insulation that I could read without being overwhelmed. (The lack of insulation is why visual horror is pretty much always a no-go for me, it gets too far into my brain & won't get out.) I think Jones used this structure to ease the (presumptive) white reader, though tougher than me, into the Indian POV. First we have the present-day white POV, then a blatantly racist, foolish past white POV we can easily treat as an unreliable narrator**, which makes the reader work to figure out what really happened with Good Stab, as we get his story filtered through Arthur. And because we the readers have to do so much work to piece the story together, it acts as an enthymeme: a story or argument that's more persuasive because the audience has connected some of the dots themselves.
I started to write more, but deleted it because so much of the pleasure of a book like this comes from connecting the dots yourself, from following the author's clues to get a picture of their world- (& monster-) building. If I was forced to pick *one* book for Best Novel or at least Book of the Year, this would be it. It won't be the one I re-read the most, but it's the most significant. The fact that it could be part of a matched set with "Sinners" can't be coincidence.
Saltcrop, Yume Kitasei. Post-this-apocalypse story of three sisters. Nora, the eldest, is the idealist who left a decade ago for a big-city education, trying to learn about crop diseases that plague their world, for which the only solution seems to be genetically-engineered resistant varieties from corporations. Carmen is the one with social skills, who takes care of the horrible grandmother they live with. Skipper is the boat-builder and sailor, skilled with her hands but not with people. They all get POVs, they all have problems, they all love each other fiercely even though they're pretty terrible at saying it.
The story begins when Carmen and Skipper get a message saying Nora is in trouble, not doing well after all. They have to work together to go after her, first to the city, then following her across an icy ocean and beyond. They're struggling to take of each other, but also, especially Nora, to build a better world, to use knowledge and community to push back against the corporations and the mess they've made of things. One of the VERY few novels I've read recently that reflects the current moment of crisis AND what actually works to struggle against it: not violent rebellion, not targeted assassination, but community, solidarity, caring for *everyone*.
Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor. A meta-book about writing, story-telling, who's-the-author, who's-the-audience, being Nigerian and American, and disability. I also googled "jollof rice near me", because it made me hungry for home cooking from a cuisine I've never tasted.
The Isle in the Silver Sea, Tasha Suri. I'm glad people who read ARCs recced this one, otherwise I would have skipped it as looking too much like a conventional romantasy, if f/f. Instead it's a book about the stories the English tell and re-tell, who gets to tell them, how they shape imaginations and are shaped in turn. It's about *all* the Matters of Britain: Arthurian, Shakespearean, Dickensian, Imperial, and more.
Canadian teen died from drowning after dingo attack in Australia
Mar. 6th, 2026 01:47 ambbcnewsworld_feedThe body of Piper James was found in January surrounded by dingoes on the island of K'Gari.
Divining Destiny: Flight of Freedom
Mar. 5th, 2026 08:21 pmsenmutAO3 Link | Divining Destiny: Flight for Freedom (1050 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Fratricide, Murder, flashfic, Cross-Posted from Archive Of Our Own (AO3), Time Travel
Summary:
Vierna came alert from the dream with a chill on her spine. Things had been going so well ever since she had managed to give Drizzt a chance to live elsewhere.
Her Lord was the only reason she dreamed at all, which meant the dream was a portent that she had to divine the meaning of quickly. With a flicker of her will, she sent her current messenger spider, one of the line from her father's gift to her so long ago, to fetch him to her. While she did that, she cleared her mind to take up the spells of hiding that she had lived under, ever since the Masked God chose her as His priestess.
Zaknafein was waiting when she came up from the prayers, sitting calmly opposite her — and a barrier to anything else that would have dared enter the Matron's chambers.
"Something has shifted, and we are now in danger," Vierna signed to him. "Invite your lover to take those of our people he wishes. You and I, any you trust explicitly, will use the gathering paths to leave this city."
"You are certain?"
Vierna's mouth set in a grim line for a long moment. "Only that the hiding spell is known to me from childhood allowed me to take it, I think. She is seeking His influence in the city now."
"Be at the portal by the time for evening meal; I will have all things in motion," Zak told her firmly.
For better or worse, House Do'Urden in Menzoberranzan would be abandoned to the Spider Queen, but personal survival was prized above all else, for most drow, and Vierna was typical in that regard.
Dinin sat in the safe house of Bregan D'Aerthe with his head in his hands, still mulling over everything. He was grateful to the Weapon Master for making this opportunity appear, but he was at a loss for what would be expected now that he was without a House.
Jarlaxle, leader of the mercenary company, sat beside him, uncovered eye surveying those few men he had chosen to bring into the band. He wasn't very pleased; Vierna Do'Urden had been opening avenues to the cunning man for years now.
"It is done."
"She — they did make it out, yes?" Dinin asked, looking over.
"That actually matters to you," Jarlaxle said, and he looked pleased with that awareness. "Yes, they did. And to spare the rest, their meal was laced with poison, courtesy of my sense of mercy."
Dinin pondered that. When the Matrons of the ruling council moved to end the heresy, they would have tortured the commoners to learn all they could. The loyalty of the fighters would have pushed them to fight even without knowing where their matron was. The changes that Vierna had brought about in the House had made them all stronger, but…
… it was the kind of strength that was not allowed.
"Send me to one of your outposts, with some of my people and any of yours you trust to keep me under your eye." Dinin drew in all of his own cunning, ambition, and pride. "I live, and serving you is damn sure better than being dead or in the clutches of a different House."
"I have just the place for you," Jarlaxle said, smiling. "And I think you will thrive in our network."
Zaknafein inspected the house that had been procured in Rilauven, checking it over for any and all possible traps. When he at last came to Vierna, who was just settling back from prayer, she looked fatigued but content.
"With only ten to support us, it's not the most defensible place, but we can make it work," Zak told her.
"We will have more in time," Vierna promised him. "We still have enough gems to set ourselves on the path of growth."
"Once I am satisfied one of the fighters is able enough to defend in my absence, I will take up the offered contract at their school."
"Mother's manner of salves are unknown here, from all I can learn. That is another avenue of income." Vierna reached for his hands, and he gave them. "Thank you, for having faith in me."
"Nothing else to do when my own daughter proved she was not lost," he said quietly. "Will you be able to scry Drizzt now?"
Vierna sighed, shaking her head. "I had no luck, but then the prayers are still shrouded."
Zak frowned, but if the gods wanted to war on each other, he didn't care; he'd rather they left drow alone. "At least you being so high in favor, even with Him weakened, means you shouldn't be tested too soon."
"So I think, yes."
Vhaeraun sighed melodramatically as Eilistraee finally managed to pull the poisoned chelicerae out of His abdomen.
"You should have made it clear You wished aid long before now," Eilistraee scolded, putting the large pincers into the waiting darkflame to destroy them. "What happened?"
He considered how to answer as Her hands moved back to the wound, bringing healing and soothing the unending agony He had been inflicted with since the attack.
"One of the junior clerics My priestess had sent to learn in Her temple betrayed My priestess by thought. I managed to warn her, just before My realm was swarmed by Her abyssal spiders.
"I believe She'd already glimpsed My influence building." He grimaced with distaste for losing the first real foothold He'd made in that city.
"She will be on guard for reprisals," Eilistraee mused. "You must be careful, My Twin."
"When am I not, My dear Sister?" he asked in mocking tones, before lying back to let Her finish the healing He needed. She let Him rest, considering all of this, and how it might backlash upon Her own people.
"My priestess is safe, with her father, in one of the cities I hold more strongly," He said. "I chose well with her, even if this did not work the way I wished."
"Just don't go becoming enamored of her, Brother. My Nephew is enough trouble."
Vhaeraun laughed, bitterly, but nodded at the warning. He did enjoy such pleasures, but this priestess was too important, in His limited foresight, to risk that with.
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Vierna Do'Urden, Zaknafein Do'Urden, Drizzt Do'Urden, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Fratricide, Murder, flashfic, Cross-Posted from Archive Of Our Own (AO3), Time Travel
Summary:
Vierna is Betrayed
Divining Destiny: Flight for Freedom
Vierna came alert from the dream with a chill on her spine. Things had been going so well ever since she had managed to give Drizzt a chance to live elsewhere.
Her Lord was the only reason she dreamed at all, which meant the dream was a portent that she had to divine the meaning of quickly. With a flicker of her will, she sent her current messenger spider, one of the line from her father's gift to her so long ago, to fetch him to her. While she did that, she cleared her mind to take up the spells of hiding that she had lived under, ever since the Masked God chose her as His priestess.
Zaknafein was waiting when she came up from the prayers, sitting calmly opposite her — and a barrier to anything else that would have dared enter the Matron's chambers.
"Something has shifted, and we are now in danger," Vierna signed to him. "Invite your lover to take those of our people he wishes. You and I, any you trust explicitly, will use the gathering paths to leave this city."
"You are certain?"
Vierna's mouth set in a grim line for a long moment. "Only that the hiding spell is known to me from childhood allowed me to take it, I think. She is seeking His influence in the city now."
"Be at the portal by the time for evening meal; I will have all things in motion," Zak told her firmly.
For better or worse, House Do'Urden in Menzoberranzan would be abandoned to the Spider Queen, but personal survival was prized above all else, for most drow, and Vierna was typical in that regard.
Dinin sat in the safe house of Bregan D'Aerthe with his head in his hands, still mulling over everything. He was grateful to the Weapon Master for making this opportunity appear, but he was at a loss for what would be expected now that he was without a House.
Jarlaxle, leader of the mercenary company, sat beside him, uncovered eye surveying those few men he had chosen to bring into the band. He wasn't very pleased; Vierna Do'Urden had been opening avenues to the cunning man for years now.
"It is done."
"She — they did make it out, yes?" Dinin asked, looking over.
"That actually matters to you," Jarlaxle said, and he looked pleased with that awareness. "Yes, they did. And to spare the rest, their meal was laced with poison, courtesy of my sense of mercy."
Dinin pondered that. When the Matrons of the ruling council moved to end the heresy, they would have tortured the commoners to learn all they could. The loyalty of the fighters would have pushed them to fight even without knowing where their matron was. The changes that Vierna had brought about in the House had made them all stronger, but…
… it was the kind of strength that was not allowed.
"Send me to one of your outposts, with some of my people and any of yours you trust to keep me under your eye." Dinin drew in all of his own cunning, ambition, and pride. "I live, and serving you is damn sure better than being dead or in the clutches of a different House."
"I have just the place for you," Jarlaxle said, smiling. "And I think you will thrive in our network."
Zaknafein inspected the house that had been procured in Rilauven, checking it over for any and all possible traps. When he at last came to Vierna, who was just settling back from prayer, she looked fatigued but content.
"With only ten to support us, it's not the most defensible place, but we can make it work," Zak told her.
"We will have more in time," Vierna promised him. "We still have enough gems to set ourselves on the path of growth."
"Once I am satisfied one of the fighters is able enough to defend in my absence, I will take up the offered contract at their school."
"Mother's manner of salves are unknown here, from all I can learn. That is another avenue of income." Vierna reached for his hands, and he gave them. "Thank you, for having faith in me."
"Nothing else to do when my own daughter proved she was not lost," he said quietly. "Will you be able to scry Drizzt now?"
Vierna sighed, shaking her head. "I had no luck, but then the prayers are still shrouded."
Zak frowned, but if the gods wanted to war on each other, he didn't care; he'd rather they left drow alone. "At least you being so high in favor, even with Him weakened, means you shouldn't be tested too soon."
"So I think, yes."
Vhaeraun sighed melodramatically as Eilistraee finally managed to pull the poisoned chelicerae out of His abdomen.
"You should have made it clear You wished aid long before now," Eilistraee scolded, putting the large pincers into the waiting darkflame to destroy them. "What happened?"
He considered how to answer as Her hands moved back to the wound, bringing healing and soothing the unending agony He had been inflicted with since the attack.
"One of the junior clerics My priestess had sent to learn in Her temple betrayed My priestess by thought. I managed to warn her, just before My realm was swarmed by Her abyssal spiders.
"I believe She'd already glimpsed My influence building." He grimaced with distaste for losing the first real foothold He'd made in that city.
"She will be on guard for reprisals," Eilistraee mused. "You must be careful, My Twin."
"When am I not, My dear Sister?" he asked in mocking tones, before lying back to let Her finish the healing He needed. She let Him rest, considering all of this, and how it might backlash upon Her own people.
"My priestess is safe, with her father, in one of the cities I hold more strongly," He said. "I chose well with her, even if this did not work the way I wished."
"Just don't go becoming enamored of her, Brother. My Nephew is enough trouble."
Vhaeraun laughed, bitterly, but nodded at the warning. He did enjoy such pleasures, but this priestess was too important, in His limited foresight, to risk that with.
Daily Check-In
Mar. 5th, 2026 08:23 pmmecurtin posting in fandom_checkinThis is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, March 5, to midnight on Friday, March 6 (8pm Eastern Time).
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Poll #34328 Daily check-in poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 11
How are you doing?
I am OK
7 (63.6%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now
4 (36.4%)
I could use some help
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single
4 (36.4%)
One other person
4 (36.4%)
More than one other person
3 (27.3%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Twenty Questions for Fic Writers
Mar. 6th, 2026 09:06 amalias_sqbrI was tagged by anghraine, and as is traditional am tagging anyone who thinks it looks fun. I think I may have done this one before but feel like doing it again regardless.
Since I am as much an artist as a writer I'll ponder it from both angles. Won't bother linking everything but my account is![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p2.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
sqbr.
( Read more... )
anghraine, and as is traditional am tagging anyone who thinks it looks fun. I think I may have done this one before but feel like doing it again regardless. Since I am as much an artist as a writer I'll ponder it from both angles. Won't bother linking everything but my account is
( Read more... )
These women fought in Ethiopia's last civil war and warn against another one
Mar. 6th, 2026 12:05 ambbcnewsworld_feedFemale fighters recall how the conflict in the northern Tigray destroyed their lives, as fears grow that fighting could resume.
Time of the Cat by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Mar. 5th, 2026 07:52 pmlightreadsTime of the Cat
3/5. Sci-fantasy time travel about the future scholars paired with talking cats to romp through history.
Connie Willis, but make it way zanier. I picked this up the day our cat went into the kitty ER (he’s fine, he ate approximately four feet of ribbon but they got it back out without surgery). It was good for that day spent waiting, but after that exhausted/worried interval there was still more book, and it went weirder and more spaghetti splat than I wanted. Like there was so much happening in this book simultaneously, and all of it – the zany talking cat parts and the far future parts and the multiple factions parts and the romance parts and the trying-to-be-serious memory loss parts – were all treated with the same cheerful rush, which left me unsatisfied.
A good head empty no thoughts day book, but otherwise, kind of a frenetic mess. Also, I genuinely don't know why the protag was still into the love interest by the end, she did not sell me on that in the slightest.
Content notes: Memory manipulation.
3/5. Sci-fantasy time travel about the future scholars paired with talking cats to romp through history.
Connie Willis, but make it way zanier. I picked this up the day our cat went into the kitty ER (he’s fine, he ate approximately four feet of ribbon but they got it back out without surgery). It was good for that day spent waiting, but after that exhausted/worried interval there was still more book, and it went weirder and more spaghetti splat than I wanted. Like there was so much happening in this book simultaneously, and all of it – the zany talking cat parts and the far future parts and the multiple factions parts and the romance parts and the trying-to-be-serious memory loss parts – were all treated with the same cheerful rush, which left me unsatisfied.
A good head empty no thoughts day book, but otherwise, kind of a frenetic mess. Also, I genuinely don't know why the protag was still into the love interest by the end, she did not sell me on that in the slightest.
Content notes: Memory manipulation.
Poet's Corner: Verlaine Boit by Antoin Artaud
Mar. 5th, 2026 07:32 pmstonepicnicking_okapiToday is National Absinthe Day, so please cavort as much as you dare with the Green Fairy!
Verlaine Boit by Antonin Artaud
"Il y aura toujours des grues au coin des rues,
Coquillages perdus sue les grèves stellaires
Du soir bleu qui n'est pas d'ici ni de la terre,
Où roulent des cabs aux élytres éperdues.
Et roulent moins que dans ma tête confondue
La pierre verte de l'absinthe au fond du verre,
Où je bois la perdition et les tonnerres
A venir du Seigneur pour calciner mon âme nue.
Ah! Qu'ils tournent les fuseaux mêles des rues
Et filent l'entrelacs des hommes et des femmes
Ainsi qu'une araignée qui tisserait sa trame
Avec les filaments des âmes reconnues."
Verlaine Drinks [translation from this website: http://www.absinthe.se/]
"There will always be whores on street corners,
Lost shells stranded on the stellar shores
Of a blue dusk which belongs neither here nor on earth
Where taxis roll by like bewildered beetles.
But they roll less than in my whirling head
The green gem of absinthe deep in the glass
Where I drink perdition and the thunder
Of the Lord's judgement to roast my naked soul.
Ah! How the tangled spindles of the streets
Turn and spin the fabric of men and women,
As if a spider were weaving her web.
Degas' L’Absinthe
Verlaine Boit by Antonin Artaud
"Il y aura toujours des grues au coin des rues,
Coquillages perdus sue les grèves stellaires
Du soir bleu qui n'est pas d'ici ni de la terre,
Où roulent des cabs aux élytres éperdues.
Et roulent moins que dans ma tête confondue
La pierre verte de l'absinthe au fond du verre,
Où je bois la perdition et les tonnerres
A venir du Seigneur pour calciner mon âme nue.
Ah! Qu'ils tournent les fuseaux mêles des rues
Et filent l'entrelacs des hommes et des femmes
Ainsi qu'une araignée qui tisserait sa trame
Avec les filaments des âmes reconnues."
Verlaine Drinks [translation from this website: http://www.absinthe.se/]
"There will always be whores on street corners,
Lost shells stranded on the stellar shores
Of a blue dusk which belongs neither here nor on earth
Where taxis roll by like bewildered beetles.
But they roll less than in my whirling head
The green gem of absinthe deep in the glass
Where I drink perdition and the thunder
Of the Lord's judgement to roast my naked soul.
Ah! How the tangled spindles of the streets
Turn and spin the fabric of men and women,
As if a spider were weaving her web.
Degas' L’Absinthe
not a restful day
Mar. 5th, 2026 06:16 pmmellowtiggerI ended up drinking whisky after work every day this week. They were stressful days. That was fine.
Today, I went to my morning patrol. I came home with a slight headache. I thought maybe I'd just rest all day. Wrong.
Overhead surveillance has been so frequent all day long that it's just absurd. I was gritting my teeth and wondering how guerillas get access to anti-aircraft missiles. I'm not sure if there were multiple aircraft. I thought more than once that there was a plane rather than helicopter. Some special flights get to block their transponder from public review, and last week I watched a plane overhead that wasn't showing on FlightRadar24.com. For today, you can view the flight map for N119SP starting about 1pm Central and about 3pm Central. Apparently it takes about 20 minutes to refuel the helicopter. That's my house under the main tangled knot of each 2-hour flight.
I filed a noise complaint using this form:
https://metroairports.org/file-noise-complaint
Edit 8:50pm. Yes, here's a small plane flying overhead right now. *sigh*
'What is the game plan?': The Iran war is unsettling China and its ambitions
Mar. 5th, 2026 11:13 pmbbcnewsworld_feedChina is not feeling the shock of war in the Middle East - yet. But it is feeling the ripples.
Finland plans to lift decades-old ban on hosting nuclear weapons
Mar. 5th, 2026 11:12 pmbbcnewsworld_feedThe government says the nation's defence environment has "significantly changed" since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Ecuadorean troops find 35m-long 'narco-sub' hidden in nature reserve
Mar. 5th, 2026 05:34 pmbbcnewsworld_feedEcuador's military says the drug-trafficking submersible was loaded with fuel and "ready to go".
dahlia day!
Mar. 5th, 2026 06:14 pmstarandreaI removed the dahlia tubers from their cool spot by the back door over the weekend, but didn't get to putting them in dirt until today.
Last year I put them straight into large containers that they lived in all summer. They grew taller than me and had to have supports constructed around them so they wouldn't fall over. I put a freeze cloth over them to keep them blooming late into the fall, and between them and a few pots of cannas they transformed our back deck into an amazing jungle.
This year I have too many overwintering plants already, plus more dahila tubers than last year, and I do not have space for giant containers indoors, let alone indoors under high-powered grow lights. So the dahlias went into little containers from which they will be transplanted to a garden in... two months. Which surely will not be enough time for them to turn into beanstalks that I regret starting early!
( pictures )
Last year I put them straight into large containers that they lived in all summer. They grew taller than me and had to have supports constructed around them so they wouldn't fall over. I put a freeze cloth over them to keep them blooming late into the fall, and between them and a few pots of cannas they transformed our back deck into an amazing jungle.
This year I have too many overwintering plants already, plus more dahila tubers than last year, and I do not have space for giant containers indoors, let alone indoors under high-powered grow lights. So the dahlias went into little containers from which they will be transplanted to a garden in... two months. Which surely will not be enough time for them to turn into beanstalks that I regret starting early!
( pictures )
Review – How to Fake It In Society
Mar. 5th, 2026 10:26 pmthebibliophibian_feed
How to Fake it In Society
by KJ Charles
Genres: Historical Fiction, RomancePages: 320
Rating:
Synopsis:It is 1821 and Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte is making a splash in London Society. The son of Jeanne de Valois de La Motte, infamous for stealing a priceless diamond necklace meant for Marie Antoinette, Nico hopes to restore his wronged mother's reputation, if only he can raise the funds. But he must operate with great secrecy, because the Bourbon dynasty murdered his mother, and he fears for his life.
At least, that's what he tells Titus Pilcrow. Titus was a simple shopkeeper, making and selling artists' paints, when he found himself suddenly married to an immensely wealthy woman who wanted to disinherit her nephew on her deathbed. As word spreads of his fortune, Titus finds himself a target of every scammer and beggar in London…including one Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte.
Nico is on his last legs, out of money, and on the run from some terrifying gangsters. When Titus offers Nico a space in his household, it's the perfect chance for him to exploit London's newest golden purse—until he falls in love with the man he needs to cheat. Still, Nico is sure they can have a happy ending together. If he can just find his way out of his own web of lies…
I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My only problem with KJ Charles’ How to Fake It In Society was that I spent the entire thing bracing for the third-act breakup. I knew it was coming, Nico knew it was coming, Eve knew it was coming, everyone knew it was coming — and why — except for Titus, and it was excruciating. It’s like watching a car crash when it’s reached the point of inevitability and it’s going in slow-mo: you can’t do anything to stop it, so you can only watch it with horror.
Nico and Titus are a lovely match, with Nico putting his effrontery and ability to manage people at Titus’ disposal, and steering him toward a path where he can be happy. Nico’s good points are also his flaws, in a way that’s delightful to watch happen to someone else — it just all makes so much sense, and even his awareness of the likelihood of the third-act breakup is part of why things spin out of control for him.
Titus is a sweetheart; I feel that in some ways, his personality has been kicked out of him by his abusive childhood and abusive adult relationship, but we see glimmers of it all the same in his steadfast sticking to what’s right over what’s easy.
The ending involves some ridiculous dramatics, which I mean in the best way possible.
Overall, a lot of fun, I just wish that romance in general didn’t rely so heavily on the breakup and dramatic get-together, because knowing that’s coming — even though I know it’ll be made good — really saps my fun. I get that it’s part of how you add the conflict in, and Charles usually does so in a way that makes sense for the characters and scenario, something that feels natural rather than contrived… but I’m still not a fan of the structure.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
Trump cuts his losses on Noem after controversial tenure at homeland security
Mar. 5th, 2026 10:16 pmbbcnewsworld_feedNoem was one of the administration's brightest stars when she stepped into the role, but has faced a mounting backlash in recent months.
When I'm falling I'm at peace
Mar. 5th, 2026 05:55 pmmusesfoolWork has been intensely busy these past few days, and tomorrow I have to go into the office because Assistant J is getting a pin for being with the organization for 5 years (even though it's more like six and a half at this point, but no one wants to hear my rant about how anniversaries work again), and I never get much done when I'm in, so we'll see what happens. I do have to take all my tax paperwork and scan it for my accountant. This is much later than usual, eep.
*
Shrinking: Dereks Don't Die
( spoiler )
*
Lost Recipes was a really good read "about the legal and logistical barriers arrayed against people trying to archive rap media." to quote the email from Defector that included the link. It made me think about how despite its many, many issues (about which I have heard no news of progress at all, btw), the OTW is doing that work for this section of media fandom, and how important that work is (and how no one else was gonna do it). There's already so much that's gone, and that impacts how our stories get contextualized and passed on (thinking of all the thinkpieces on Heated Rivalry that only reference yaoi and animanga fandom and not Western media fandom, for example) and whatever place in the larger history of media and fandom this corner of it might have. Idk. I do recommend reading that post though, even if you're not a rap fan.
*
*
Shrinking: Dereks Don't Die
( spoiler )
*
Lost Recipes was a really good read "about the legal and logistical barriers arrayed against people trying to archive rap media." to quote the email from Defector that included the link. It made me think about how despite its many, many issues (about which I have heard no news of progress at all, btw), the OTW is doing that work for this section of media fandom, and how important that work is (and how no one else was gonna do it). There's already so much that's gone, and that impacts how our stories get contextualized and passed on (thinking of all the thinkpieces on Heated Rivalry that only reference yaoi and animanga fandom and not Western media fandom, for example) and whatever place in the larger history of media and fandom this corner of it might have. Idk. I do recommend reading that post though, even if you're not a rap fan.
*
Azerbaijan says Iran struck its territory, as war spills over border
Mar. 5th, 2026 09:33 pmbbcnewsworld_feedPresident Ilham Aliyev says drone strikes are "act of terror" as he places armed forces on high alert.
Israelis back war with Iran despite uncertainty and fatigue
Mar. 5th, 2026 07:24 pmbbcnewsworld_feedIsraelis broadly support the US-Israeli military campaign with Iran, even if they are tired of air raid alerts and constant upheaval.
This Year 365 songs: March 4th and 5th
Mar. 5th, 2026 04:05 pmjs_thrill It would have been slightly more fitting if I had slacked off for one more day, as March 4th, 5th, and 6th are sort of related inclusions in the book (I've only heard the song for March 5th, previously). Each annotation is labeled "Firearms Suite, Song Number n". (I've actually just glanced ahead and there is another one coming up, so I feel less bad about tackling two of them today and the others later).
The song for March 4th was: That Hippolytine Feeling.
Darnielle obviously has some feelings about his penchant for putting guns in songs when he was younger. One doesn't need to read this book to know that, though. He stopped performing the song live for a long stretch, and has spoken about his feelings on this a fair number of times.
The thing about Going to Georgia (sorry Hippolytine Feeling, we're not going to focus on you much in this post), is that it is a really good song, despite the issues with the song's narrative and it's protagonist. I think I remember people having similar feelings about the film Hero, or more recently, film RRR, where one has ideological objections to the work, simultaneous with a recognition of its level of aesthetic quality.
What makes this somewhat surprising for this song in particular is that lots of Mountain Goats songs have morally concerning narrative elements. So the real question is: why is this song one that Darnielle feels so strongly about? It can't *just* be that it became hugely popular with the fans, as No Children fits that bill. I think Darnielle feels like this song (unlike the songs that focus on the alpha couple), romanticize guns and related violent impulses in a way that is different from how, say, toxic behaviors are depicted and explored in the alpha couple songs, but not romanticized (though, when we do get to No Children, check out the stories about people asking him to play that at their wedding; some folks are romanticizing it nonetheless).
I think the popularity of the song compounded with Darnielle's ambivalence about how it romanticizes the protagonist, combined to make him hate the song (though his attitude seems to have warmed up a bit, as he has played it at a few recent concerts without demanding anyone in the audience pay him $60 to do so).
Darnielle renders the lyrics as prose (most lyrics in the book have line breaks where you would expect, though he also did this for Song for Dana Plato), and I don't know what to make of that decision:
Anyway, Darnielle doesn't say much to address the above issues and ambivalences head on in these annotations. He talks a bit about the process of recording the song and then ends with an observation that the song's "perennial status as one of the most requested songs in the Mountain Goats catalog supports [his] longstanding claim that the people, while not actively demanding blood, would still like the occasional assurance that blood, should they need it, is certainly on the menu". I think this comment deepens my confusion, rather than helping enlighten me, though, as the song does not seem to express bloodthirst to me, even if it takes unfortunate tropes/dangerous conceptions of love and romanticizes them (that hippolytine feeling seems a bit more in line with this commentary, but as far as I can tell it's a song that was never officially recorded/released, so it doesn't have the same longevity, fanbase, or, I imagine, emotional weight around expectations to perform it, as Going to Georgia does.
The song for March 4th was: That Hippolytine Feeling.
Darnielle obviously has some feelings about his penchant for putting guns in songs when he was younger. One doesn't need to read this book to know that, though. He stopped performing the song live for a long stretch, and has spoken about his feelings on this a fair number of times.
The thing about Going to Georgia (sorry Hippolytine Feeling, we're not going to focus on you much in this post), is that it is a really good song, despite the issues with the song's narrative and it's protagonist. I think I remember people having similar feelings about the film Hero, or more recently, film RRR, where one has ideological objections to the work, simultaneous with a recognition of its level of aesthetic quality.
What makes this somewhat surprising for this song in particular is that lots of Mountain Goats songs have morally concerning narrative elements. So the real question is: why is this song one that Darnielle feels so strongly about? It can't *just* be that it became hugely popular with the fans, as No Children fits that bill. I think Darnielle feels like this song (unlike the songs that focus on the alpha couple), romanticize guns and related violent impulses in a way that is different from how, say, toxic behaviors are depicted and explored in the alpha couple songs, but not romanticized (though, when we do get to No Children, check out the stories about people asking him to play that at their wedding; some folks are romanticizing it nonetheless).
I think the popularity of the song compounded with Darnielle's ambivalence about how it romanticizes the protagonist, combined to make him hate the song (though his attitude seems to have warmed up a bit, as he has played it at a few recent concerts without demanding anyone in the audience pay him $60 to do so).
Darnielle renders the lyrics as prose (most lyrics in the book have line breaks where you would expect, though he also did this for Song for Dana Plato), and I don't know what to make of that decision:
The most remarkable thing about coming home to you is the feeling of being in motion again; it's the most extraordinary thing in the world. I have two big hands, and a heart pumping blood, and a 1967 Colt .45 with a busted safety catch. The world shines as I cross the Macon county line going to Georgia.
The most remarkable thing about you standing in the doorway is that it's you, and that you're standing in the doorway; and you smile when you ease the gun from my hand, and I'm frozen with joy right where I stand. The world throws its light underneath your hair, forty miles from Atlanta. This is nowhere. Going to Georgia.
spies, romance and mystery
Mar. 5th, 2026 09:43 pmphilomythaA Perfect Spy (BBC 1987)
An adaptation of the Le Carré book, and unusually for Le Carré I could follow what was going on the whole time. It helps that it wasn't particularly twisty as plots go, and it was really a psychological exploration of Magnus Pym, where he comes from and how his relationship with his father made him into a perfect spy and then into a double agent, rather than complicated spy shenanigans as such. And it did this very well, with a slow steady journey through Magnus's life from start to end. Also it was devastatingly slashy: Axel and Magnus were just absurdly in love with each other and the show absolutely leaned into this far more than I would have expected for something made in 1987. Poppy and Sir Magnus, my poor heart. I shall have to read the book.
The German Secret Service, Walter Nicolai
This was a fascinating piece of history. Walter Nicolai was the head of German military intelligence during World War I, and he published this book in 1924 about his work. And it's an intensely, hilariously biased narrative, also full of Nicolai's fairly predictable prejudices. The way Nicolai tells it, WW1 was just not playing fair and the virtuous, noble, honourable Germans had everyone else ganging up on them in a very mean way for no reason at all and when Germans wanted to do things honourably and properly they had to contend with everyone else cheating and making unfair kinds of war with trenches and blockades which cruelly prevented the Germans from doing what they were good at and winning outright. But along with all that is a really comprehensive overview of the entire German intelligence system and also the various Entente Powers' intelligence systems and how they interacted. Nicolai lays out the different theatres of the intelligence aspects of WW1 in Europe - he doesn't go into the wider world elements - and discusses the differences between the Russian, British, French, Belgian and American intelligence networks and what they focused on and where they operated, and the measures he took to counter them. He focuses more on this than on how the German system was operating, for all that it claims to be a book about the German secret service it's more a book about catching enemy spies than about what German spies were up to, though he does talk a lot about how difficult it was to get spies out of Germany anyway when there were hostile countries on all sides. But I spent a lot of time laughing at how he kept turning absolutely everything into a propaganda argument for how much better Germans are than everyone else, even things like the significant number of Germans who were induced to spy on their own country he makes into a virtue by carefully explaining that these German traitors were utterly faithful to their new masters, loyal and reliable and provided really valuable intel and didn't ask for large sums of payment, and so as well as being the best at everything else, they were also the best double agents!
A Company of Swans, Eva Ibbotson
Harriet Morton runs away from her oppressive bigoted father and miserly aunt to join a ballet company going on tour up the Amazon river to the newly prosperous Brazilian city of Manaus. Like all the other Ibbotsons I've read, once I'd started this it whisked me along to the end without really drawing breath, it's a delightful experience to read. The characters are gorgeous, the romance is lovely, the descriptions of Harriet blossoming in her new life are a joy and the whole thing was a tremendous ride. I did find the various misunderstandings a trifle contrived, Ibbotson is quite fond of the sort of misunderstandings that cause total disaster for the characters but could have been averted with ten seconds of conversation - though she did lampshade it a bit with the Romeo and Juliet feather motif - but I loved the characters and narrative voice and the storytelling overall so much that I just rolled my eyes at those parts and carried on happily anyway.
Magic Flutes, Eva Ibbotson
In the aftermath of WW1, an Austrian princess is working backstage at the opera while her elderly aunts arrange the sale of their castle to a fantastically wealthy English industrialist, who wants to impress the woman he still loves despite the fact that she previously turned him down for being too poor and unknown. Lots of fun here, with the opera company being fantastically, hilariously and vividly described, the elderly aunts are an utter joy, and of course everyone nearly ends up married to the wrong person before a bit of subterfuge sorts it all out.
A Song for Summer, Eva Ibbotson
This one was particularly good. Ellen, raised by three determined suffragettes, unfortunately enjoys cooking more than attempting to train in a profession, so she swaps university for cooking college and then takes a job as matron of an experimental school in Austria in 1938. Here she takes on a deeply chaotic school full of troubled children whose wealthy parents don't want them around, with all of Ibbotson's usual fantastic characters, and also the mysterious groundsman Marek who is pruning trees and looking after animals in between disappearing on mysterious jobs into Nazi Germany, and refusing to participate in any music whatsoever. I won't spoil the plot, but Ibbotson doesn't follow the strict romance novel rules of the other books quite so much here and I really liked how it all worked out.
Death On Ice, R.O. Thorpe
A fun contemporary murder mystery with a Golden Age vibe. Our heroes are twins, both marine biologists, who are going on a joint luxury cruise/scientific expedition to the Arctic, when one of their shipmates turns up messily dead. The Arctic luxury cruise ship recreates all the best things about a traditional country house murder mystery, with the structured formality, enforced interaction and fancy settings, and this very much had the country house mystery feel to it. The plot was a bit involved in places, but the story overall was great fun, the characters were well drawn and I did not figure out whodunnit before the reveal - though unfortunately I also did not have the 'oh, OF COURSE' sense you get in a really well constructed murder mystery. Still, I'd definitely read another of this series, and I believe there is one, so that's all to the good.
An adaptation of the Le Carré book, and unusually for Le Carré I could follow what was going on the whole time. It helps that it wasn't particularly twisty as plots go, and it was really a psychological exploration of Magnus Pym, where he comes from and how his relationship with his father made him into a perfect spy and then into a double agent, rather than complicated spy shenanigans as such. And it did this very well, with a slow steady journey through Magnus's life from start to end. Also it was devastatingly slashy: Axel and Magnus were just absurdly in love with each other and the show absolutely leaned into this far more than I would have expected for something made in 1987. Poppy and Sir Magnus, my poor heart. I shall have to read the book.
The German Secret Service, Walter Nicolai
This was a fascinating piece of history. Walter Nicolai was the head of German military intelligence during World War I, and he published this book in 1924 about his work. And it's an intensely, hilariously biased narrative, also full of Nicolai's fairly predictable prejudices. The way Nicolai tells it, WW1 was just not playing fair and the virtuous, noble, honourable Germans had everyone else ganging up on them in a very mean way for no reason at all and when Germans wanted to do things honourably and properly they had to contend with everyone else cheating and making unfair kinds of war with trenches and blockades which cruelly prevented the Germans from doing what they were good at and winning outright. But along with all that is a really comprehensive overview of the entire German intelligence system and also the various Entente Powers' intelligence systems and how they interacted. Nicolai lays out the different theatres of the intelligence aspects of WW1 in Europe - he doesn't go into the wider world elements - and discusses the differences between the Russian, British, French, Belgian and American intelligence networks and what they focused on and where they operated, and the measures he took to counter them. He focuses more on this than on how the German system was operating, for all that it claims to be a book about the German secret service it's more a book about catching enemy spies than about what German spies were up to, though he does talk a lot about how difficult it was to get spies out of Germany anyway when there were hostile countries on all sides. But I spent a lot of time laughing at how he kept turning absolutely everything into a propaganda argument for how much better Germans are than everyone else, even things like the significant number of Germans who were induced to spy on their own country he makes into a virtue by carefully explaining that these German traitors were utterly faithful to their new masters, loyal and reliable and provided really valuable intel and didn't ask for large sums of payment, and so as well as being the best at everything else, they were also the best double agents!
A Company of Swans, Eva Ibbotson
Harriet Morton runs away from her oppressive bigoted father and miserly aunt to join a ballet company going on tour up the Amazon river to the newly prosperous Brazilian city of Manaus. Like all the other Ibbotsons I've read, once I'd started this it whisked me along to the end without really drawing breath, it's a delightful experience to read. The characters are gorgeous, the romance is lovely, the descriptions of Harriet blossoming in her new life are a joy and the whole thing was a tremendous ride. I did find the various misunderstandings a trifle contrived, Ibbotson is quite fond of the sort of misunderstandings that cause total disaster for the characters but could have been averted with ten seconds of conversation - though she did lampshade it a bit with the Romeo and Juliet feather motif - but I loved the characters and narrative voice and the storytelling overall so much that I just rolled my eyes at those parts and carried on happily anyway.
Magic Flutes, Eva Ibbotson
In the aftermath of WW1, an Austrian princess is working backstage at the opera while her elderly aunts arrange the sale of their castle to a fantastically wealthy English industrialist, who wants to impress the woman he still loves despite the fact that she previously turned him down for being too poor and unknown. Lots of fun here, with the opera company being fantastically, hilariously and vividly described, the elderly aunts are an utter joy, and of course everyone nearly ends up married to the wrong person before a bit of subterfuge sorts it all out.
A Song for Summer, Eva Ibbotson
This one was particularly good. Ellen, raised by three determined suffragettes, unfortunately enjoys cooking more than attempting to train in a profession, so she swaps university for cooking college and then takes a job as matron of an experimental school in Austria in 1938. Here she takes on a deeply chaotic school full of troubled children whose wealthy parents don't want them around, with all of Ibbotson's usual fantastic characters, and also the mysterious groundsman Marek who is pruning trees and looking after animals in between disappearing on mysterious jobs into Nazi Germany, and refusing to participate in any music whatsoever. I won't spoil the plot, but Ibbotson doesn't follow the strict romance novel rules of the other books quite so much here and I really liked how it all worked out.
Death On Ice, R.O. Thorpe
A fun contemporary murder mystery with a Golden Age vibe. Our heroes are twins, both marine biologists, who are going on a joint luxury cruise/scientific expedition to the Arctic, when one of their shipmates turns up messily dead. The Arctic luxury cruise ship recreates all the best things about a traditional country house murder mystery, with the structured formality, enforced interaction and fancy settings, and this very much had the country house mystery feel to it. The plot was a bit involved in places, but the story overall was great fun, the characters were well drawn and I did not figure out whodunnit before the reveal - though unfortunately I also did not have the 'oh, OF COURSE' sense you get in a really well constructed murder mystery. Still, I'd definitely read another of this series, and I believe there is one, so that's all to the good.
passing me by
Mar. 6th, 2026 08:42 amtielanI'm just not managing to stay on top of any of the fandom trends.
Still haven't watched K-Pop Demon Hunters, or Heated Rivalry, or even Bridgerton S4...
I'm not bothering with Marvel (they're dead to me, like all the best characters in the franchise) and there's not much else that particularly interests me.
As usual, I mostly lack someone to watch things with. I'll watch movies that I'm only marginally interested in with friends, but I've never been a 'rewatch' kind of person - even in the background. Too many things to do.
--
Actually, I'm just not managing to stay on top of ANYTHING right now.
Still haven't watched K-Pop Demon Hunters, or Heated Rivalry, or even Bridgerton S4...
I'm not bothering with Marvel (they're dead to me, like all the best characters in the franchise) and there's not much else that particularly interests me.
As usual, I mostly lack someone to watch things with. I'll watch movies that I'm only marginally interested in with friends, but I've never been a 'rewatch' kind of person - even in the background. Too many things to do.
--
Actually, I'm just not managing to stay on top of ANYTHING right now.
You guys will be shocked but I've been watching some more horror
Mar. 6th, 2026 07:42 amlucymonsterSince my sudden mania for film shows no signs of slowing, I've created a Letterboxd account. I don't really plan to use it for much besides tracking what I've watched and what I plan to watch, but add me if you're a user and I'll heart your reviews when I see them. :)
Anyway it has been A Week and I've been too tired by the end of each day to do ANYTHING other than vegetate in front of the TV, and specifically to vegetate in front of something scary and tense enough to prevent my otherwise inevitable zoning-out. The upside of which is yay, more horror movies!
Hell House LLC (2015): A documentary crew investigates a haunted house attraction that went gruesomely wrong on its opening night, leading to more than a dozen fatalities under baffling circumstances which the authorities have hushed up. Whensnickfic recced this movie to me, I said I would not watch it because clowns gross me out. But the haunted house + found footage conceit was calling to me enough that I decided I could probably handle the clowns - and hey, I was right! This is not especially clowny clown horror by my highly arbitrary personal standards that mostly boil down to "there are no gross clown smiles" and "there are no even grosser clown laughs". Maybe this is a gateway for me? Maybe someday I'll be sufficiently desensitised to clowns that I can catch up to the rest of the world and watch It? Whatever the case, I had fun with this movie. I admired the filmmakers' decision to leave so many questions unanswered and I think that uncertainty is scarier than any explicit answers they could have devised. (For that reason, I'm going to go right on ahead and ignore the fact that there are sequels. Not EVERYTHING has to be a franchise, damn. The movie stands alone just fine.)
On a minor note, I REALLY liked the piano-and-violin piece in the soundtrack. Beautifully simple, beautifully discordant.
Carrie (1976): I am once again standing in awe of the incredibly broad palate of flavours that get lumped together under the "horror" label. This movie is not a scare so much as an anguished distillation of the cruelties of high school. Carrie suffers horrific religious abuse at home and extreme bullying at school; after falling victim to a very public and sadistic "prank" during senior prom, she unleashes her budding telekinetic powers on the watching crowd with murderous results. But her rampage is - well, not an afterthought per se, but it happens right at the end of the film in a dizzying blitz; the vast majority of the screentime (and the most visceral source of horror, for me at least) is the long, slow lead-up to the prank, as tension mounts between the glow-up narrative Carrie thinks she's living and the humiliation we know she's about to suffer.
I am not enough of a Film Buff(TM) to comment on the weird split-screen thing they were doing during the climax, or whatever the fuck was happening at the start with that borderline pornographic locker room shower scene. Both of them threw me out a bit but neither was enough of a hiccup to spoil what was otherwise a really gripping story.
The Old Dark House (1932): I watched this because it stars Boris Karloff, and while it may not be one of his most iconic roles, it was the one my library happened to have on offer at the moment I found myself thinking, 'Hey, I should watch some Boris Karloff!' So on those qualifications, I bring you this old-school spooky cult classic about two small groups of travellers who are forced by a violent storm to go begging for shelter at an isolated old house in the Welsh countryside, whose eccentric inhabitants turn out to be harbouring a deadly family secret. Karloff's physical acting is impressive: his character, Morgan the butler, is completely mute but has an immense screen presence (literally as well as metaphorically) despite the lack of dialogue. He's a hulking mass of danger whose sullen subservience turns to violent, lust-addled malice when he drinks, as of course he does on the stormy night in question. There's also a romance between a feckless WWI vet and a chorus girl who is only technically not the sugar baby of one of the other houseguests, which aside from being endearing in its own right was a lot more risqué than I expected of a movie from the 30s. Evidently the "pre-Code" label is more than just a historical technicality!
Anyway it has been A Week and I've been too tired by the end of each day to do ANYTHING other than vegetate in front of the TV, and specifically to vegetate in front of something scary and tense enough to prevent my otherwise inevitable zoning-out. The upside of which is yay, more horror movies!
Hell House LLC (2015): A documentary crew investigates a haunted house attraction that went gruesomely wrong on its opening night, leading to more than a dozen fatalities under baffling circumstances which the authorities have hushed up. When
snickfic recced this movie to me, I said I would not watch it because clowns gross me out. But the haunted house + found footage conceit was calling to me enough that I decided I could probably handle the clowns - and hey, I was right! This is not especially clowny clown horror by my highly arbitrary personal standards that mostly boil down to "there are no gross clown smiles" and "there are no even grosser clown laughs". Maybe this is a gateway for me? Maybe someday I'll be sufficiently desensitised to clowns that I can catch up to the rest of the world and watch It? Whatever the case, I had fun with this movie. I admired the filmmakers' decision to leave so many questions unanswered and I think that uncertainty is scarier than any explicit answers they could have devised. (For that reason, I'm going to go right on ahead and ignore the fact that there are sequels. Not EVERYTHING has to be a franchise, damn. The movie stands alone just fine.)On a minor note, I REALLY liked the piano-and-violin piece in the soundtrack. Beautifully simple, beautifully discordant.
Carrie (1976): I am once again standing in awe of the incredibly broad palate of flavours that get lumped together under the "horror" label. This movie is not a scare so much as an anguished distillation of the cruelties of high school. Carrie suffers horrific religious abuse at home and extreme bullying at school; after falling victim to a very public and sadistic "prank" during senior prom, she unleashes her budding telekinetic powers on the watching crowd with murderous results. But her rampage is - well, not an afterthought per se, but it happens right at the end of the film in a dizzying blitz; the vast majority of the screentime (and the most visceral source of horror, for me at least) is the long, slow lead-up to the prank, as tension mounts between the glow-up narrative Carrie thinks she's living and the humiliation we know she's about to suffer.
I am not enough of a Film Buff(TM) to comment on the weird split-screen thing they were doing during the climax, or whatever the fuck was happening at the start with that borderline pornographic locker room shower scene. Both of them threw me out a bit but neither was enough of a hiccup to spoil what was otherwise a really gripping story.
The Old Dark House (1932): I watched this because it stars Boris Karloff, and while it may not be one of his most iconic roles, it was the one my library happened to have on offer at the moment I found myself thinking, 'Hey, I should watch some Boris Karloff!' So on those qualifications, I bring you this old-school spooky cult classic about two small groups of travellers who are forced by a violent storm to go begging for shelter at an isolated old house in the Welsh countryside, whose eccentric inhabitants turn out to be harbouring a deadly family secret. Karloff's physical acting is impressive: his character, Morgan the butler, is completely mute but has an immense screen presence (literally as well as metaphorically) despite the lack of dialogue. He's a hulking mass of danger whose sullen subservience turns to violent, lust-addled malice when he drinks, as of course he does on the stormy night in question. There's also a romance between a feckless WWI vet and a chorus girl who is only technically not the sugar baby of one of the other houseguests, which aside from being endearing in its own right was a lot more risqué than I expected of a movie from the 30s. Evidently the "pre-Code" label is more than just a historical technicality!