bjornwilde

WE FINALLY GOT SNOW YESTERDAY! The initial "2 feet starting at 7 pm Saturday night" became "3-5 inches starting after midnight Sunday morning" but seeing as we haven't had a real snowfall in ten-freaking-years I WILL TAKE IT. (Seriously, I hate "sunny blue skies and cold with no snow" winters. There are few things I find more depressing.) I tried my absolute best to stay up for the snowfall as the estimated start times ticked further and further back into the night but alas, tapped out around 11:30 pm. There was a good 4" (Only four? *sob*) on the ground when we got up yesterday morning, but we went out for a lovely multi-mile walk through the streets and Park in the virgin snow, seeing absolutely nobody aside from a few other couples and a group of seven armed national guardpuppets walking single file up the street in the opposite direction, doing absolutely fuckall of use to the city.

Wintry mix and an increasing number of fishtailing and/or marooned cars on the unplowed roads ultimately got us to head back home. We made hot coffees, and then hot cocoas, and then mulled cider. I settled in to read my Asian news sites, and then my European news sites, and then realized it was Burns Night. And then I got a little sad.( Read more... )

Games: A main gaming group member's beloved-by-everyone pet passed away last week, so gaming has been preempted by other distractions, hugs, and really, whatever else they need from us for the foreseeable future.

Witchcraft has proved super challenging and great fun. This is a solo player tabletop game where you command a coven of witches trying to protect your fantasy medieval European village from fairytale monsters in the face of a skeptical jury. The game's mechanics are complex and challenging, with enough variability in their components to create a lot of replay value. Would I enjoy them as much if the setting were "medical researchers trying to save their chronically ill patients from certain death in the face of a skeptical ethics review board" or "rogue military alpha males trying to save their kidnapped ladyfolk from 'terrorists' in the face of a skeptical JAG?" Absolutely fucking not. But this game knows the sort of player it wants to appeal to with its chosen scenario, I am exactly the sort of player it appeals to with its chosen scenario, and it plays to my/those preferences brilliantly.

Otherwise, a fellow resident is in the early stages of setting up a gaming night, with Azul, Carcassone, Catan (*sigh*), or Wingspan as potential options, so I'm (no pun intended) on board and excited about that.

Music: I skipped last week's house session as my socializing meter was at 0. Both yesterday's pub session and today's house session have been cancelled due to Weather (ruling out group playing), and seeing I can't get the humidity in my unit above 19 percent even with both humidifiers going full blast for the past 72 hours, I won't be doing any solo playing at home. (PS: Houseplants, I am so, so sorry. Please don't all of you die on me I swear I am doing the best I can.)

Podcasts/Articles: Nothing this week.

Roleplaying: Nothing this week.

Television: An unsung hero uploaded a 40 minute interview with one of the Stars in My Personal Firmament of Irish Fluteplaying to yt this week, and I inhaled it like oxygen.

Video Games: Machinarium, Pentiment, and Ghost of Yotei continue apace. The GC has been replaying Knights of the Old Republic on the tower, so my Ultima IV replay has not progressed at all in the last seven days.

これで以上です。

Current Music: faetooth - hole

lebateleur

I managed to finish two books this week despite the competing pressures of work, gaming, and other socializing, and aim to have a few more honkers wrapped up within the next few days.

What I Finished Reading This Week

Mannaz – Malene Sølvsten

Freya the Deer – Meg Richman

What I Am Currently Reading

The Dog Stars – Peter Heller

The Stations of the Sun - Ronald Hutton

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish vol. 1 – Xue Shan Fei Hu

What I’m Reading Next

I acquired no new books this week.

これで以上です。

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

I Made the Mistake of Inviting My Family to My Brand-New Home. The Night Ended in Chaotic Disaster. ( Read more... )

Current Mood: shocked

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

Meanwhile, I’m exhausted. ( Read more... )

leiacat

BeforeTimes I used to have a tradition of going out for dim sum the weekend before (or of) my birthday. This seemed like the time to revive the tradition.

A new dim sum place opened on 40 in Ellicott City (or Catonsville? Over by Iron Age), so I led an expedition. Everything was of excellent quality. Language barriers weren't bad - they even mostly understood me! A few things were odd, like having to explicitly ask for water, and refills on it being by request rather than offered. (I did try a couple things I don't think I'd had before - a shrimp and truffle dumpling and a shrimp on top of a block of tofu thing). The total was higher than we're used to Mai Dragon being, and the place is further away for most people I'd want to go with, so despite an excellent meal, next year I will seek points further South.

For my Birthday Actual I took my theater kids to Hungry Bowl in Bowie. It's an all you can eat Mongolian grill / sushi place (with some Korean elements), and they have a birthday deal of a free meal with a purchase of 3. The Mongolian was buffet-style. Appetizers and sushi were ordered via tablet and brought by a human. The grill quality was good, though I was disappointed that the choices lacked some basics, like sesame oil or sesame seeds. (Could be those aren't standard for Mongolian, but their sauce selections certainly didn't stick to types native to that style). The sushi selection was a bit curtailed at lunch, but there were still plentiful options, and it was good to have four people to share the rolls between so that we could sample more variety. But, it's a 40 minute per direction drive, so it would really take someone else deciding to include us in their outing to try it again. Or being in Bowie already with folks so inclined.

In the evening I splurged on a feast for my friends, and treated them to a catered Georgian meal. I have been in correspondence with Supra in DC for a good month prior, making them help me figure out how much of what to get. They thought they deliver to Greenbelt, and Gracious Host graciously allowed me the use of his place for a party, since my own place is both too far to be practical and too small to host an effective party of a size I hoped for. (It did come out to a size I could have handled after all the attrition, but would have required an hour per direction drive to pick up the food, which likely would not have survived the trip.) Once the order was placed we were informed that they were wrong, and we're 2 miles beyond their delivery range; once I offered to throw money at the problem they were willing to get one of their own to drive it. Most of my friends had never had the cuisine before, and it felt wonderful to introduce them to a thing I love. (I definitely overbought on wine, so now I have a good case and a half of leftovers. I need to host more parties and/or drink faster than I actually do. For better or worse, my packrat tendencies manifest most strongly in the consumables department.)

So, now I'm 50, and I'm in tech week for my show! Which is complicated slightly by the snow storm hitting on our tech-in Sunday - which we expected, and we have contingencies to make it work, but they will certainly require some exhausting overtime on the part of my crew.

wickedgame posting in

iconic

Fandoms: Bad Behaviour, Dynasty, Good Trouble, Heated Rivalry, Mako Mermaids, Neumatt, Namib, Nancy Drew, One Trillion Dollars, Skymed, Stranger Things, Supergirl, What It Feels Like For a Girl

rest HERE @

mundodefieras

dark_kana posting in

3_good_things_a_day

1) the fever of our daughter was gone this morning. I hope it stays away today so she can have a good day with her granddad ^^

2) soup for lunch

3) hubby's father is staying for dinner

petra

Lint rollers (200 words) by Petra
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: White Collar (TV 2009)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elizabeth Burke/Peter Burke/Neal Caffrey
Characters: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey, Elizabeth Burke, Satchmo (White Collar)
Additional Tags: Double Drabble, Psychic Wolves
Summary:

Peter and Satchmo make an arrest -- and a friend.

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Let's misbehave

hannah

Some Grow Old (3427 words) by Hannah
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Top Gun (Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell
Characters: Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky Lives, Established Relationship, Gay Pride, Pride Parades, Queer Themes, Queer Culture
Summary: Every Pride is someone's first.

-

One of two Top Gun fics I've been working on that I've finally wrapped up and posted. Also, check out the new fandom icon.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Fifteen Minutes - Voxtrot

james

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conuly

Made dinner - left it home.

And there’s no delivery because of all this snow. Also, they’re nearly out of food.

Good thing I waited for the bus at the corner store - I have cheezits, coke, and a cupcake, a c food diet. (And in the morning I’ll eat some of their Cheerios!)

I nearly didn’t make it in. Couldn’t get a car, and my bus kept getting canceled, but finally one made it out of the terminal.

snickfic

I'm pretty uneducated about rap, but I go on a binge every so often, mostly of female rappers. Today I want to share one of my favorites.

Glorilla is from Memphis, Tennessee, and is primarily known for her party jams. She has released several EPs and mixtapes and finally last year her first proper album, Glorious, which is nominated for a Grammy for best rap album.

I find her charming for a bunch of reasons:
- Distinctive husky voice and a thick, delightful accent. (I love how many syllables she can put into "ass.")
- Smiley and doesn't take herself too seriously. She always comes across like she's having fun.
- Raps about a wide variety of topics in a wide variety of emotional registers. I appreciate the mix of bravado and vulnerability.
- Loves her female friends. Has them in her videos, does songs with them, does songs about them, mentions them casually in songs.
- She's also just very hot, okay. (See: Special)

Most of all, she feels effortlessly genuine. At no point does she come across like she's trying to be anyone other than who she is.

Some personal fave tracks of mine:
- TGIF, Tomorrow 2 (ft her cousin Cardi B), and F.N.F. As I said, her biggest songs are her party jams, and these are the best ones IMO. TGIF has a great beat that sounds almost apocalyptic, which makes perfect sense to me with the opening lines of It's 7pm Friday / It's 95 degrees. You're right, if it's still that hot by 7 in the evening, that DOES feel like the world is ending, lol.

- Intro to her album Glorious. It's short but really captures that sense of genuineness I get from her.

- Accent by Megan Thee Stallion ft Glorilla. Again, doesn't take herself too seriously. "I throw an R in any word that got a U in it" is an accurate description of her accent. Incredible.

- Don't Deserve is Glorilla rapping about and to a friend whose boyfriend doesn't treat her well. I really like how this isn't just a "he's shit, hurry up and dump him" song, but has lines like It's time to find yourself again, this n* got you lost / You can do it, friend, I know you can, my fingers crossed. There's a lot of empathy in it, along with the concern.

- Wrong One, a collab with Glorilla and four other female rappers. Another one where it feels like everyone's having a good time, and gave me some more female rappers to look up. The music video is delightful.

teaotter posting in

snowflake_challenge

Introduction Post*
Meet the Mods Post
Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9 * Challenge #10 * Challenge #11 * Challenge #12

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

( Fandom Snowflake Challenge #13 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

petra

Letters from Luigi: Responses to Alleged Fan Mail (981 words) by Petra, Teland, the_Jack
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Political RPF - US 21st c.
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Luigi Mangione
Additional Tags: American Politics, Delay Deny Defend, Epistolary, fan mail, Humor, Political Prisoners, the lost art of the thank-you note, United States, Unrequited Crush
Summary:

Teland said, of a photograph of Luigi Mangione reacting to some evidence against him being thrown out:

"There's still a certain 'Je ne sais why a 67-year-old woman who calls herself PresidentMILF keeps trying to convince me to send nudes' about the eyes.

"'Please stop perceiving me kthxbye —LM'"

Nineteen more letters follow that Luigi might, semi-plausibly, have written back... to a wide variety of admirers.

Current Mood: responsive
Current Music: As I sit in contemplation of the human situation

snickfic

Impromptu (1991). Writer George Sand (Judy Davis) strives to avoid past lovers, romance the man of her dreams (Chopin, played by Hugh Grant), and find peace and quiet to write novels.

The movie's strongest point is its cast. I'd not seen Judy Davis before but absolutely fell in love with her here, and Bernadette Peters as the scheming one-time BFF is wonderful, at first charming and later pitiable. Emma Thompson has a smaller, purely comedic part as a duchess desperate to become a patron of the arts, and she's also delightful. There are also some male actors, and they were fine. (I know everyone loves Julian Sands, and he's very nice to look at, but I'm unpersuaded by his acting chops.)

Wikipedia calls this movie a "historical film," which conveniently saves anyone from having to identify the tone. Is it a comedy? A romance? A drama? Possibly all of the above? I enjoyed it for the actors and the discussion of the arts, and I'm interested to learn more about George Sand, but it felt like a movie that wasn't entirely sure what it wanted to be.

I was inspired to watch this because of

sophiahelix's excellent Yuletide fic for it, which I enjoyed even more rereading after seeing the movie.

--

The Secret Agent (2025). A research scientist in 1970s Brazil is targeted by a corrupt capitalist and hides out under a false name while trying to get the documents for him and his son to flee the country.

My understanding of this movie going in was that it was a 70s-esque thriller, but a very slow burn. I guess that's not untrue, exactly, but "slow burn" is a bit optimistic tbh. I can appreciate the artistic craftsmanship on display here, and as a portrait of people going about their daily lives amidst pervasive corruption, it was very good. I also enjoyed the occasional cuts to the present day of two women transcribing cassette tapes recorded during the main action of the movie, and how that juxtaposition worked of tension in the past vs reconstructing the events fifty years later. OTOH, I found the left turn in narrative structure towards the end pretty unsatisfying.

Overall, I get what the movie was doing, and I think it did it well; I just wasn't into it.

--

The Testament of Ann Lee (2026). The Shakers were an off-shoot of the Quakers who, per the movie, were given to physical motion ("shaking") as a form of worship leading to religious ecstasy and who eventually adopted a doctrine of total abstinence. Amanda Seyfried stars as Ann Lee, the English prophet of the Shaker sect who leads them to America in the mid-1700s. Also it's kind of a musical?

I've seen people say that Robert Eggers's movie The Witch is a horror story from within a Puritan worldview, and I've never quite been able to wrap my head around that framing, but Testament of Ann Lee is 1000% a story about a fringe religious sect from the sect's POV. If you've ever wanted folk horror without the horror part, this movie is it. The script is heavily inspired by contemporary accounts of Lee by her followers, and the movie is entirely committed to that version of events, complete with visions and apparent miracles.

The movie is gorgeous, and so much of it is given over to the religious music and dance that in places it feels more like an experience than a narrative. It's more interested in conveying the emotional life of these characters than in strict realism, so some of it feels heightened in a way that I really liked, without trying to be deliberately distracting. So for example, at one point in one of the climactic musical sequences, an electric guitar comes in. That heightened approach makes the extensive musical worship sequences feel organic and necessary, which is why I hesitate to call the movie a musical in the conventional sense; the music and dancing is almost entirely diagetic, even if choreographed to a degree unlikely in real life.

If it's not apparent by now, I loved this. Beautifully shot, incredible integration of the worship sequences, Seyfried was incredible. It was great to see a movie where the weird prophet was a woman and yet the movie still treats her with utter seriousness. There were moments where I could have done with a bit more on-screen illustration of events that get relegated to voiceover, but it's a small quibble.

I found a quote from director Mona Fastvold that she initially struggled to find support for the project due to "zero interest" form the industry, to which I can only say, no shit. I honestly have no idea how this got made, but I'm so glad it did. I have never had a movie experience like this before.

petra

We'd be protesting if it wasn't so goddamn cold and snowy. We'd be, quite probably, rioting, except goddamn it is miserable outside, and unlike the good people of Minneapolis, we are intimidated by Lots of Snow and Ice.

So instead we are sending funds to Minnesota because what the actual fuck.

If you are also sending funds to Stand With Minnesota, and we share a fandom or you like original poetry, I would be happy to write for you!

Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Light candle/curse darkness

chestnut_pod

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Current Mood: sick
Current Music: red-shouldered hawk in the eucalyptus next door