forestofglory

The sun came out and everyone was enjoying it so much after more than a week of clouds and snowfall. This crow was taking a very energetic bath - look how far the water droplets are flying all around him!

pilottttt posting in

common_nature

hunningham

We have started watching films with father-in-law.

Certain criteria: they can't be too long (he has very firm opinions about films which are over two hours), must be brightly light so he has a chance of seeing something on the screen, cannot be subtitled for obvious reasons, and have to be dialogue-heavy.

Father-in-law is a good person to watch films with, bit of a film bugg with eclectic & wide-ranging tastes. In the past he's been my go-to person for arthouse films, and we may try that again, but not just yet.

Films at home work because we can pause when something needs the extra explainy. Father-in-law has tried audio-descriptions previously and disliked them intensely ("they explain the bits I don't need explained") so we'll not do that again.

Films we've seen so far:

Clueless (we were talking about Jane Austen adaptions and this is the best one)
Galaxy Quest (it's the best Star Trek film, and Bryan has never seen it)
Legally Blonde I (one of H's favourite films. Bryan enjoyed it, but now wants a rest from college / high-school films)
Wake Up Dead Man (I hadn't seen it. This worked well - lots of talking, and Daniel Craig having fun)
Gun Crazy (1950s 'Bonnie & Clyde' noir. Bryan suggested this one when we were talking about romantic Valentine movies)

I'd love to show him The Menu because he'd really enjoy the comedy horror piss-take of celebrity restaurant scene, but a lot of the action takes place in the dark as a murderous chef chases people around a tiny island so I think that's out.

On my list for future watching:

Conclave
Bringing Up Baby
Gosford Park
Spirited Away (he saw My Neighbor Totoro with me last year & loved it)

Suggestions welcome.

torachan

1. I got my hair cut this morning. Nice to get that out of the way before my trip.

2. I'm all packed for tomorrow except for a few last things I can't pack until the morning. Hopefully I can get to sleep with no issue and early enough, because I have my alarm set for four tomorrow. D:

3. The rain was much better today. It rained a little here and there, but mostly was dry, and none of the times it was raining interfered with anything I was doing.

4. Gemma's helping pack.

redbird

I realized over the weekend that I hadn't checked on those insurance/medical specialist referrals, and when I did check, they were all sitting in MyChart, but hadn't been sent to the insurance company. The insurance chat agent was able to tell me that yes, they need to be in their system, and gave me a fax number to give my GP's office. So I called this morning (yesterday having been a holiday) and asked my doctor's office to do that, urgently, because I'm seeing Dr. Awad tomorrow.

When nothing had happened by midday, Adrian suggested I call the insurance company and ask whether it would be OK if they received the referral after the appointment, on the theory that this probably happens a lot. So I called, and they said yes it would, so I'm going to cross my fingers, and didn't call to reschedule that appointment.

I also finally managed to talk to my Fidelity advisor, and set up a three-way call with him and BNY (where the inherited IRA is). That involved a lot of waiting on hold, and the agent saying he needed to check one more thing.... He then told me that it would take more time for them to figure out where that unexpected balance came from, and they had to figure that out before they could transfer the money. No, I don't know why: the balance information is from their system. So someone is supposed to call me back, hopefully soon, and then I hope they will either transfer the money to Fidelity, or be willing to send me a check for the balance and close the account.

It took me a little while to figure out why I was feeling worn out, but at least part of it is that I made multiple phone calls, and everything is still in process, if not in limbo. A bowl of Lizzy's "chocolate orgy" ice cream helped some.

On top of everything else, my gum is bothering me again ("again" because it's a problem for a day or two, then it's fine for a while, and then recurs).

kaberett

Yesterday afternoon I'd been discussing auditor traps. Yesterday evening we walked out of the supermarket and were confronted by

three signs across a blocked-off road: DIVERSION pointing right, ROAD CLOSED, DIVERSION pointing left

[description in alt text, better to follow]

ysabetwordsmith posting in

common_nature

Yesterday I shared photos from the House Yard and South Lot plus Savanna and Prairie Garden. Today I did a bit of yardwork that revealed fun new things. :D

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

lydamorehouse

Image: A kaiju loon looming over the skyline of Minneapolis. The words say "CthuLoon says, ICE get out!" by Jeremy Brandon. Not sure why this artist did not include LASER EYES, but hey, ChtuLOON is pretty hilarious in general.

Still sick, so not much to report today.

While I've been recovering I've been watching the Heartstopper series, which is based on webtoon of the same name. Apparently, there is a Heartstopper Forever finale movie, which I'll try to watch tonight. I stumbled across this a few days ago because I was looking for something that was kind of mindless and sweet. This very much fits that bill! The show came out in 22, but the finale movie is only a year old, so I don't feel like a complete looser only finding it now. It's basically a love story between two boys at an all-boys school in England, where one of the pair is the rugby captain who has a fairly profound coming out as bisexual. What I really like about it is the whole friend group. I'm particularly fond of Belle, the trans girl, and Issac, the ace/aro book nerd. But, I kind of love everyone in the show, which is rare for me!

Not sure I am recommending it to anyone, however, because it is just sort of sappy, sweet, and fairly low-stakes (though trigger warnings: eating disorder and some body disphoria in seasons 2-3). There aren't even any dragons. But it was sold to me by a reviewer who called it "a hug in TV series form." And I kind of just needed hugs while recovering from this head cold.

Otherwise, I'm thinking I will spend my afternoon finding maps and art and such for my various RPGs.

atamascolily

Katanagatari was a series of light novels by Nisio Isin that were published once a month during 2007, with 12 total. They eventually received an official English translation which came out starting in 2018, with three books per volume and copious translator's notes. There was also an anime adaptation in 2010 which mimicked the original illustrator's art style (which at times looks more like American cartoons like Samurai Jack than conventional anime) with one 50-minute episode per month.

Shichika Yasuri is a "Swordsless Swordsman" in an anachronistic version of Tokugawa-era Japan who has spent his entire life on an island with his older sister, but when Togame the Schemer ask him to accompany her on a "sword hunt" for 12 "Mutant Blades" with the power to corrupt their wielders, he accepts. Each book covers their acquisition of one sword, but things quickly become more complicated as Togame's enemies and past catch up with them.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this series, but once I got through the first book and accepted the basic premise, I enjoyed myself immensely. The writing is fast and irreverent, full of puns and constantly breaking the fourth wall, with a number of the author's favorite tropes on display (for better or worse). It is extremely violent, and gets more so as the series progresses, but often in a cartoonish way, and there are multiple occasions where characters are introduced only to be immediately slaughtered on-camera, but I appreciated the plot's twists and turns and the dawning realization of the true nature of the Mutant Blades, and everything was going along fine...

...only to abruptly pivot into full-on tragedy and borderline shaggy dog story in the final installment.

Anyway, I wrote a fix-it fic that mostly keeps everything in canon, but adds a twist that turns it into a (mostly) happy ending. It's short, it's quick (I wrote the whole thing in a day or so), it's total wish fulfillment, it's a band-aid slapped over a gaping wound, and I had to write it just so I could get it out of my system, find some peace, and move on. It depends on a specific detail in the light novel that was not included in the anime adaptation, but it was all right there in canon if the author wanted to use it. There is a fourth wall jab in the fic about this, because that is also a thing that repeatedly happens in canon and there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to express my feelings about it.

I'm not sorry I read/watched the series, but damn if that ending didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth and it feels good to have done something constructive with my feelings. Thank goodness for fanfiction!

This fandom is so obscure that I didn't expect anyone to ever read it, but incredibly the fic got a hit within days, so it just goes to show that there's an audience for everything, even a minuscule one.

melannen

I had a dream for the third time this week about watching the 1980s live-action Batman show with my sister so I figured it was worth a DW post :P

If you don't know the 1980s live-action Batman that I apparently watch in my dreams here's a quick overview:

It was a weekly one-hour show that ran for about three seasons. It predates the age of season-long arcs but it had more than the usual number of 2- and 3- part episodes and some character growth even.
It's clearly intentionally following up on the legacy of the 1960s show because it revels in the fundamental absurdity and plays for comedy, but it was also determined to not get pigeonholed as a kids' show - it has non-cartoon violence and solid emotional arcs.
For example instead of all the silly Bat-Gadgets, they had Wayne Enterprises (TM) machines. There's a running bit where Tim always makes sure he has access to a Wayne Enterprises (TM) Automatic Soup Dispenser (TM) and nobody can tell if he's just really into soup or if he's modding it to dispense other things.
Oh yeah, despite being called Batman, it's actually mostly about Tim and Dick. Bruce shows up in every episode for at least a few minutes but is rarely the focus. (Yes, I know the 1980s is early for comics!Tim - I assume the comics character was based on the show character? - and there's no Jay in this continuity, which lets it be a little more lighthearted about their relationships with Bruce.)
Tim became Robin after Dick "retired" and Bruce finally noticed how neglected the neighbor boy actually was. In the show he's mostly traveling around playing poor little rich boy and Robinning with a rotating guest cast of Teen Titans (nearly every episode is in a different city - they must have had a huge travel/sets budget.)
Dick is 100% a civilian these days he swears. He's technically in college but never appears to attend. He's always showing up to "hang out" with his little bro, or following Kory to a show, and then having to secretly superhero it up without a costume or name. The show is constantly teasing that this is the episode he'll finally become Nightwing and never follows up.
When Bruce shows up it's usually not as Bruce, or even Batman, but as his even more useless cousin "Kenneth Wayne", who only shows up in the tabloids when he's done something so ridiculous Bruce has to send Alfred to bail him out, and therefor has an excuse to be places Bruce can't possibly be. He has absolutely 0 natural authority over the boys, who treat him as an embarrassingly untrustworthy uncle, and enjoys the hell out of this.
Dick is dating Koriand'r, but they insist they're not girlfriend and boyfriend because "Tamaraneans don't have boys and girls, she's just my Kory and I'm her Dick". This is never explored beyond that at all. (Also Kory looks a lot less human and more like Ron Perlman's Beast* (except as a hot not-girl, of course.)
Tim spends every episode excited and/or worried about the main plot interfering with or facilitating a possible or planned date with a girl. The girls are never named or shown onscreen. Dick teases him about this.

The episode we watched last night involved Tim and Dick renting out an old mansion/party house in Philadelphia that was haunted by a very lazy demon shaped like a yellow cartoon rabbit, a very large monitor lizard who was wanted by the Mob, a bunch of people having to shelter overnight in a Victorian-themed cafe in the zoo, and every single character having to dress up as Matches Malone in the same bad wig at the same time. Also the Three Stooges guest-starred. I hope I get to watch more later, I don't think there's an official DVD release.

*did I only have this dream because I did that "name all the animals" game right before bed and was thinking about Golden Lion Tamarins??

rachelmanija

Excellent dark fantasy about three women trapped in a medieval castle under siege. It reminded me a bit of Tanith Lee - it's very lush and decadent in parts - and a bit of The Everlasting. Fantastic female characters with really interesting relationships. The language is not strictly medieval-accurate but a lot of the characters' mindsets are, which is fun.

All I knew going in was that it was medieval, female-centric, and involved cannibalism. This gave me a completely wrong impression, which was that it was a sort of female-centric medieval Lord of the Flies in which everyone turns on each other under pressure and starts killing and eating each other. This is very nearly the opposite of what it's actually about, though there is some survival-oriented eating of the already-dead.

The three main characters are Phosyne, an ex-nun and mad alchemist with some very unusual pets that even she has no idea what they are; Ser Voyne, a female knight whose rigid loyalty gets tested to hell and back; and Treila, a noblewoman fallen on hard times and desperate to escape. The three of them have deliciously complicated relationships with each other, fully of shifting boundaries, loyalties, trust, sexuality, and love.

At the start, everyone is absolutely desperate. They've been trapped in the castle under siege for six months, the last food will run out in two weeks, and help does not seem to be on the way. Treila is catching rats and plotting her escape via a secret tunnel, but some mysterious connection to Ser Voyne is keeping her from making a break for it. Phosyne has previously enacted a "miracle" to purify the water, and the king is pressuring her to miraculously produce food; unfortunately, she has no idea how she did the first miracle, let alone how to conjure food out of nothing. Ser Voyne, who wants to charge out and fight, has been assigned to stand over Phosyne and make her do a miracle.

And then everything changes.

The setting is a somewhat alternate medieval Europe; it's hard to tell exactly how alternate because we're very tightly in the POV of the three main characters, and we only know what they're directly observing or thinking about. The religion we see focuses on the Constant Lady and her saints. She might be some version of the Virgin Mary, but though the language around her is Christian-derived, there doesn't seem to be a Jesus analogue. The nuns (no priests are ever mentioned) keep bees and give a kind of Communion with honey. Some of them are alchemists and engineers. There is a female knight who is treated differently than the male knights by the king and there's only one of her, but it's not clear whether this is specific to their relationship or whether women are usually not allowed to be knights or whether they are allowed but it's unusual.

This level of uncertainty about the background doesn't feel like the author didn't bother to think it out, but rather adds to the overall themes of the book, which heavily focus on how different people experience/perceive things differently. It also adds to the claustrophobic feeling: everyone is trapped in a very small space and additionally limited by what they can perceive. The magic in the book does have some level of rules, but is generally not well understood or beyond human comprehension. There's a pervasive sense of living in a world that isn't or cannot be understood, but which can only be survived by achieving some level of comprehension.

And that's all you should know before you start. The actual premise doesn't happen until about a fourth of the way into the book, and while it's spoiled in all descriptions I didn't know it and really enjoyed finding out.

Spoilers for the premise. ( Read more... )

Spoilers for later in the book: ( Read more... )

Probably the last third could have been trimmed a bit, but overall this book is fantastic. I was impressed enough that I bought all of Starling's other books for my shop. I previously only had The Luminous Dead, which I'm reading now.

Content notes: Cannibalism. Physical injury/mutilation. Mind control. A dubcon kiss. Extremely vivid descriptions of the physical sensations of hunger and starvation. Phosyne's pets do NOT die!

Feel free to put spoilers for the whole book in comments.

rekishi

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oursin

Have only just discovered that there is a new (came out in November) biography of Decca Mitford: Carla Kaplan, Troublemaker: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford.

Via a review in the latest Literary Review which is, alas, not fully online, sounds less than whelmed, and gives the impression that it may be a tad po-faced.

Yes, about Jessica Mitford, that great tease.

Can't find any other unpaywalled online reviews of any great credibility - there are some on GoodReads but they all sound to be from people who Nevererdofer previously.

So before I, that already have several of her own biographical works and essays, collections of letters etc upon my shelves, also the previous biography, spend moolah and time on this, I wonder if anyone has already read it and has opinions?

(Have just had thought that as far as I recall, Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd did on at least one occasion encounter Unity Mitford, while undercover in Germany: but not, I think, Decca &/or Esmond, anywhere in his exploits.)

lirazel

This is totally random, but I've had something on my mind lately and I realized that the people who could most likely answer my questions are...on my flist!

Some context: when I was still a Christian, I spent a lot of time appreciating the tradition of religious sisters and how that was a lifestyle it was possible to pursue. It just really made me feel good to know that there was this long tradition of women who chose to pursue faith and/or education instead of wifehood/motherhood/family/sex. You could step outside of that and you had a society-sanctioned option to become a nun, spend your life in a community of other women, and sometimes pursue an education or the arts. (Obviously I don't want to idealize life in a religious community, which could be abusive or poverty-stricken as the case may be. But so could marriage!)

Judaism is SO different and more family-focused (for understandable reasons), so I've kind of been missing that, especially since I've been thinking a lot about female mystics lately for Ann Lee reasons (though I am NOT mystic in any way at all and in fact am pretty anti-mystic in both my personality and experience, I find it endlessly fascinating). Were there different points or places in Jewish history, say, pre-19th century, in which women could pursue a different kind of life? Or, even if they married, is there a mystic tradition among Jewish women? I have the vaguest ideas about Jewish mysticism, but I only know it in the context of men.

Or is there something similar in Islam? I know there are Buddhist nuns, but I know little of that either.

I've been thinking a lot about the ways that female mystics in Christianity are both honored and seen as operating within a well-established tradition but also always dangerous and threatening to the power structure and the ways in which they kind of teeter between something that the masculine authorities approve of because they can use it (mostly to prove the power of God) and want to tamp down on because it threatens them, and how the women themselves are just concerned about their relationship with God and sometimes other women, and how complicated all that is. It's just really rich, and I've sort of wanted to write some speculative fiction inspired by it, but I want to draw from wider sources than just Christian ones and I don't know where to start!

I want to be clear that I'm looking for women operating within a patriarchal religion. Obviously there have been women religious figures throughout history--priestesses, shamans, etc.--who wielded great power, both religious and otherwise. Lots of that up to the present day in indigenous religions! And they are super interesting! I want to learn more about them at some point! But right now I'm looking for women who are inhabiting that weird place where them devoting their life to a religion with a male power structure is sanctioned by the larger society, but what they do with that might not be. And women whose experience of that religion is distinctly more mystical/untamed/transcendent than most people's. Give me some women who are married to the divine!

grayswandir posting in

c_ent

Since we haven't had a picspam post lately, I thought maybe we could do one for Chinese New Year and post pics of your favorite C-ent actors/actresses/drama characters/singers etc. dressed up for the holiday (from any year!), whether for a photo shoot, ad, spring gala performance, music video, drama scene, or anything else. Gifs or links to videos also welcome! :)

(Zhu Yilong with red lanterns)
You can mention the actor/character/drama in your comment if you like (and add as much detail as you want), or just post your pics out of context. Spoiler cuts can be found in previous picspam posts if you need them!

rekishi

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emeraldnebulae1

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Current Mood: curious

emeraldnebulae1

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yaaurens

However does the week go speeding by so quickly? Just... NYOOM.

I have now worked 8 days in a row, and will hit 11 before I get a day off. I wasn't supposed to work on Saturday, and in fact had Many Things Planned, which got kiboshed when I got asked to come into work. Le Sigh. At least I got a few things done that have really needed doing, like cleaning the bathroom and changing my bed sheets. It wasn't even really necessary that I went in on Saturday, since I was scheduled for Sunday, but... argh.

Speaking of kiboshing things, last week I taught my therapist the word schlep. Apparently he has very limited Yiddish exposure, haha.

Shakes went well; we stopped right before the bear pursuit scene, because we want Allesy to get to enjoy it too since she's having a rough time of things right now. Everyone should get to experience "exeunt, pursued by a bear" at least once in their lives.

Happy stabby happened, and I checked in re: the referrals that are outstanding. They remain outstanding - the doctor's office said that they're taking at least a month right now, which is super sucky. You'd think that since one is for, y'know, a cardiologist, they might rush that one? But noooo. It would be nice to get in to see the hand specialist soon too, since I've run out of physio appointments until I get someone else to OK more visits. Then again, there hasn't seemed to be a whole lot more progress there, which is another reason I want to get in to the hand specialist soon. Would like less pain, thx.

Did not actually accomplish my goals this week, as I discovered that the P&L for Maureen is hella fucked, and I just... didn't with mom's stuff, heh. I did, however, read something not tax related! Huzzah! John Scalzi's Redshirts, which was a fun little book.

I finished yet another mini tax class thing, this one on military returns, so now I only have class to do before I level up again. Boss wants me to get to level 4 before next season, which apparently is gonna be doable considering I'm so close to 3 and will have... most of a year to finish 4. Once I hit 3, I can get small business certified. Level 4 brings advanced small business certification and Tax Pro Reviews, which is where the $$$ are, supposedly. Boss is also still making noises about training me to replace her when she retires, which... I don't know if I want to do that.

We finished watching The Day of Becoming You, which was a fun little het romcom with bodyswappping, which I suppose makes it inherently queer in a way. The actors did a pretty darn good job of playing each other, which when one was Zhang Xincheng, I expected. Not sure what our next show is going to be. Maybe we'll just do a few movies or something until after I get back from Escapade.

Speaking of! Escapade is this weekend! I Am Excite! I still haven't got my stuff together for the art show, but I got a few things mostly finished up today, and will hopefully have some non-raining time tomorrow before work to get some pieces out of the shed to list for the show. I'm not sure what to bring this year; I feel so out of the loop re: fandom and creativity and everything.

And tomorrow is LNY! I don't have anything to give anyone, but then again, I am not the boss so I don't have to! I'm hoping that I can make it to see Z1L's new movie after Escapade, but it would mean leaving pretty dang quickly, which is never ideal. I like seeing mah frends! But Z1L!

Goals for the Week: actually get everything prepped for the weekend (record hymns, art show, pack). survive the Big Bosses' visit tomorrow. try to get one of the two P&Ls actually finished, aiii.

Good Things: hummus. massive chocolate chocolate chunk cookies. rain at times I'm not driving.

ysabetwordsmith posting in

common_nature

These are the rest of the pictures I took today, from the savanna and prairie garden. (See the House Yard and South Lot.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

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forestofglory

February 2026

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Page generated Feb. 18th, 2026 02:49 pm

Reading

Crow Bath

And another Istanbul cat.

(no subject)

Daily Happiness

unsatisfying phone calls (and web chats)

particularly timely

Photos: Flowerbeds

A Group of Loons is an Asylum

Fic Reflection: "One Last Scheme for the Road" (Katanagatari)

Batman: the 1980s TV show

The Starving Saints, by Caitlin Starling

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Have any dr rdrz come across this?

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恭喜發財! (Chinese New Year Picspam)

Writing tools, mostly

Prompt - Character Education Prompts

The power of vitamin D

Weekly-ish Update, 2/16/26

Photos: Savanna and Prairie Garden

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February 2026

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