Me-and-media update

Feb. 24th, 2026 12:44 pm
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the Fourth walls poll, 68.2% of respondents said "the one-way glass that stops TPTB seeing fannish activity" is important to them; 65.9% said "the one that shields fandom from public/media attention", and 61.4% said "the wibbly-wobby physics-defying thing that means celebs and fans exist in separate universes that just happen to occupy the same space-time". About one in five respondents love ALL the walls.

In ticky-boxes, ballooooooooons and golden sparkles won 54.5% of the vote, coming second to hugs (77.3%), but the other tickies made pretty good showings too. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
I finished Courtney Milan's The Marquis Who Mustn't and enjoyed it very much. Such a kind, good-hearted series with a lovely sense of community and a spark of mischief. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Then I ploughed through one of my randomly selected library books, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman. I found this a delightful read and very moreish. It's voicey, with a distractable, occasionally omniscient 3rd POV scattered with pop culture references. I appreciated it's acceptance of introversion and valuing of alone time. Also, the main character has anxiety, and it didn't really try to fix her.

Andrew and I are still slowly listening to Barrayar by Bujold, read by Grover Gardner.

Kdramas
Juuust enough has happened in One Spring Night that I'm into it. I mean, it's still going around in circles, but I'm most of the way through episode 14, and I'm definitely going to finish. The story relies heavily on respectability, parental authority, and conservative attitudes for its conflict (the leading man is a single dad, OH NO!!), which took me a while to get my head around.

Other TV
Our journey through Middle Earth continues. We're on the second disc of extras for The Two Towers, and the actors seem a bit punchy in their interviews, lol. Other than that, just The Pitt. ♥ (My brother watched a few episodes of The Pitt and said it doesn't have a plot, and I... don't know how to answer that. There are mini-storylines with the patients. The capital-P plot, maybe? such as it is? has kicked in at episode whatever-we're-up-to. I feel like it totally works without a driving plot arc, because there are character/relationship arcs, and rising tension/pacing, and theme. Maybe that's all you need?)

I'm amused that I have three streaming service subscriptions and we're spending so much time watching DVDs.

Audio entertainment
More Better Offline, Tech Won't Save Us (the one about humanoid robots), Writing Excuses, Letters from an American, Pod Save America, Cross Party Lines, Fansplaining.

Online life
From you I have been absent in the spring February, quite a lot. My reading page seems pretty quiet, and I'm still having trouble keeping up; open tabs proliferate (that's the middle line of a haiku).

Writing/making things
I'm subsisting on alibi sentences. My creativity is sitting on a bench somewhere, staring blankly into the sky.

I keep failing to post the meta about adverbs in speech tags because it's so prescriptive, and who am I to say anything?

Life/health/mental state things
I don't know what I'm doing with my life. The world (mostly as presented by the above podcasts) is freaking me out. Yesterday I made fifty chicken dumplings and talked to my brother in NY.

Good things
Dumplings. Creativity is a tide. Sunshine. Grapes. Library books. Black cat lying on the very edge of a sunbeam. Independent media and reporting.

Poll #34285 spam SPAM spam
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 43


How often do you check your spam folder?

View Answers

daily
4 (9.3%)

weekly
4 (9.3%)

maybe once a month?
13 (30.2%)

only when I'm looking for a specific thing
22 (51.2%)

never have I ever
1 (2.3%)

other
3 (7.0%)

ticky-box full of prescriptive writing advice
4 (9.3%)

ticky-box full of blanket cocoons and comfort food
26 (60.5%)

ticky-box full of putting clutter in boxes instead of sorting it
21 (48.8%)

ticky-box full of koalas in gum trees, chewing eucalyptus and judging us all
25 (58.1%)

ticky-box full of hugs
32 (74.4%)

TWELVE HOURS

Feb. 23rd, 2026 06:29 pm
autobotscoutriella: a green forest with the light shining through the trees (sunshine forest)
[personal profile] autobotscoutriella posting in [community profile] purimgifts
Good timezone, Purimgifters! By my math, there are a little over TWELVE HOURS left until it is no longer February 23 anywhere in the world!

If you’ve already posted, that’s fantastic! If you’ve already reached out to us about an extension or a backup, that’s also fantastic. Either way, now is an excellent time to check out our Posting Guide or our Embed Guide. For your mods’ sanity, please don’t wait until the very last minute to post! We’re happy to double-check tags, HTML, etc. for you; just send us a quick email.

If you’re not absolutely sure you’ll have your fics and art posted in the next 12 hours, you do still have a few options! Please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com ASAP if you think you need one of these.

Extension. If you’re absolutely sure you can complete your assignment, you just need another day or two, this option is for you. To request an extension, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com!

Partial default. This option is for people who already know they can’t complete their assignment, but who want to post what they can complete. To request a partial default, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com.

Full default. If you’re absolutely sure you can’t complete your assignment, this option is for you. You can activate it by emailing purim_gifts@yahoo.com, or by hitting the “Default” button at the AO3. Either way, you won’t be penalized for it; life happens, and we get that.

And finally, if you have questions about your options or just need a little encouragement, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com ASAP. Don’t wait until the last minute to contact us! We’re happy to work with you, but we can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on, and we do have to sleep at some point. Keep us in the loop and help us help you!
full_metal_ox: A gold Chinese Metal Ox zodiac charm. (Default)
[personal profile] full_metal_ox posting in [community profile] little_details
[personal profile] squidgiepdx belongs to this comm, but he’s perpetually been some combination of sick and busy, so I’ve taken the liberty of helping him out.

He’s trying to track down a particular BTS shot from Stargate: Atlantis:

And now on to the SGA Picture part of the deal. So I wrote a quickie story for [community profile] romancingmcshep about John Sheppard's ass (the fest goes until February 28th if you're interested!) and the whole story is based on a picture that NOBODY can find anymore. I KNOW! It's frustrating! Anyway, there's what I think is a "behind the scenes" shot of most likely S01E03 "Hide and Seek" or S01E05 "Suspicion" where it's focused on Joe Flanigan's butt. Like kinda blatantly. He's kneeling on the Gateroom floor over Rodney, I believe and you can see where his t-shirt is pulled up and the waistband of his BDUs are lower - showing some skin and some of his boxers. This is what I think the camera sees in that shot, as Sheppard is kneeling like that but I remember there being a whole lot more skin. Does anyone remember a BTS photo like this? SO FRUSTRATING that I can't find it when I know I've seen it a hundred times.


His post: https://squidgiepdx.dreamwidth.org/341626.html

double poem day

Feb. 23rd, 2026 05:11 pm
ursula: bear eating salmon (Default)
[personal profile] ursula
Two of my poems were published today! They're both science-and-technology poems about immigration in the US in the past year. Secondary Filters is up at Strange Horizons, and an audio version of Leaning on the melting point is on the PoetTreeTown Soundcloud.

Monday Music Meme

Feb. 23rd, 2026 09:04 pm
extrapenguin: Northern lights in blue and purple above black horizon. (Default)
[personal profile] extrapenguin
The original prompt for today was "a song title that is in all lowercase" ... which, uh, I have zero (0) songs like that so I came up with an alternative prompt:

newest release
FlowerLeaf - The Wake


This is the first song I heard from the band, and instantly got me preordering the album. Also it's the freshest single, dropping a month ago.

Dreamerie by FlowerLeaf came out last Friday, 20th of Feb 2026.


prompts under the cut

a song you discovered this month
a song that makes you smile
a song that makes you cry
a song that you know all the lyrics of
a song that proves that you have good taste
a song title that is in all lowercase newest release
a song title that is in all uppercase
an underrated song
a song that has three words
a song from your childhood
a song that reminds you of summertime
a song that you feel nostalgic to
the first song that plays on shuffle
a song that someone showed you
a song from a movie soundtrack
a song from a television soundtrack
a song about being 17
a song that reminds you of somebody
a song to drive to
a song with a number in the title
a song that you listen to at 3am in the morning
a song with a long title
a song with a color in the title
a song that gets stuck in your head
a song in a different language
a song that helps you fall asleep at night
a song that describes how you feel right now
a song that you used to hate but love today
a song that you downloaded
a song that you want to share

Chat corner, low on fluff

Feb. 23rd, 2026 08:22 pm
annathecrow: screenshot from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. A detail of the racing pod engines. (sw: pods)
[personal profile] annathecrow posting in [community profile] dreamwars

Hi,

this is the weekly chat corner here on Dreamwars. How are you? Anything Star Wars-y to talk about?

~ ~ ~

I've had the kitten on my lap when I started to write this, but she's abandoned me in favor of food, boo. So I'm thinking about GFFA pets. Is it just me, or is it really a bit weird how many SW critters are so... lizard-y? Everything is space dinosaurs, lol. I guess tookas are fluffy...unless it's in TCW, where the animation really makes them look more like frogs to me.

What GFFA animal would you want as a pet?

2/15/26 - 2/21/26

Feb. 23rd, 2026 01:04 pm
orangeblossomteas: (Default)
[personal profile] orangeblossomteas
I've gotten back into playing Duel Links. I'm mostly playing Rush Duel because the Speed Duel PVP is kind of awful at the moment.

I went to a craft night at one of my local libraries. Definitely going again next month.

I've been thinking more about my eventual move to Linux. Everything should work fine, but I'm still a little bit anxious that I'll make the move and then find out something doesn't work.

Wu Xie's Private Notes

Feb. 23rd, 2026 05:27 pm
profiterole_reads: (Nobuta wo Produce - Shuji to Akira)
[personal profile] profiterole_reads
The c-drama Wu Xie's Private Notes (aka Time Raiders) was so much fun! It's a new adaptation of the first arc of the Lost Tomb/DMBJ franchise, which I hadn't watched before, so the story was new to me.

We see how Wu Xie, Xiaoge and Pangzi first met, and Wu Xie's Third Uncle is present in the first half of the story, before his mysterious disappearance.

Casting-wise, this new Wu Xie was introduced in the flashbacks of Tibetan Sea Flower.

You can watch it legally and for free on YouTube.

Daily Happiness

Feb. 22nd, 2026 09:04 pm
torachan: (chloe yawn)
[personal profile] torachan
1. We had a very nice morning at Disneyland today. A little warm (I wore a sweatshirt when we got in and had to take it off about halfway through, so then I had to lug it around the rest of the time, which was annoying) and a little crowded, but we ate a lot of good food and had a good time.

2. Poor Tuxie looks like he got in a scuffle again. Yesterday he came to the door with one eye partially closed and the fur between his eye and ear on that side scraped up. He's looking better today (eye fully open) and unlike some times before where he disappeared for a few days to hunker down, he has been spending his time in our yard as usual, so hopefully he's doing okay. I do wish he wouldn't get in fights. :-/

3. Jasper is just hanging out.

The Jewish War: Second half of Book 1

Feb. 22nd, 2026 07:06 pm
cahn: (Default)
[personal profile] cahn
Last week: Some really interesting discussions on (among other things) Caesar Augustus, the temple in Egypt, and the destruction of the temple (in Jerusalem) as divine punishment and also free will.

This week: More Herod! Definitely went quite a bit faster than last week! Featuring lots and lots of family drama... the kind that includes a ton of bloodshed. I'll talk more about it in comments.

Next week: [personal profile] selenak can you give us a halfway point for Book 2? It looks a bit shorter but I'm also going to be crunched for time next week (and definitely won't be able to post until Sunday) so half a book is what it's going to have to be! ETA: Death of Emperor Claudius!

2026 Disneyland Trip #10 (2/22/26)

Feb. 22nd, 2026 06:28 pm
torachan: (Default)
[personal profile] torachan
Today is Anaheim Ducks Day at DCA and I specifically made a reservation for today rather than Saturday (our usual), not because either of us care anything about hockey or the Ducks, but because last year we just happened to be there on that day and had an amazing burrito that they only serve on Ducks Day lol.

Read more... )
china_shop: A coloured-in cartoon of Shen Wei. (Guardian - cartoon Shen Wei)
[personal profile] china_shop posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Zhao Yunlan sprawled on a couch, grinning at his phone. The background shows a purply sky with stars. Text reads "Slo-Mo Rewatch. Guardian - half an episode per week @ sid-guardian.dreamwidth.org."


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

Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.

Episode 12, up to 22:18

Summary
Fourth Uncle drugs Zhu Hong; Guo Changcheng zaps himself unconscious. Wang Zheng is teaching Sang Zan to write (but hasn't shown him how to hold a pen). Zhao Yunlan confronts Shen Wei in his university office, ostensibly about the case but in fact seeking confirmation of Shen Wei's other identity. Tan Xiao breaks into the SID to steal the Hallows but is thwarted by Sang Zan's trap, followed by Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's arrival. Zhao Yunlan catches the Awl, has visions and falls unconscious (feat. some lovely manhandling by Shen Wei); Da Qing wakes him by being catlike. Lin Jing wants to run some tests on a human; Zhao Yunlan fakes a headache, so Shen Wei volunteers. Shen Wei lies on the evidence bed in his undershirt. Fourth Uncle talks to tied-up!Zhu Hong, only it's actually Guo Changcheng in a skirt and wig. Zhu Hong drugs her uncle. (So much drugging!) Zhu Jiu is angry at Tan Xiao's failure to retrieve the Hallows; he's holding Zheng Yi hostage, promising to cure her. Zhao Yunlan doodles Shen Wei and the Envoy in his notebook. Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi ambush and hypnotise Zhu Hong as she returns from the Snake Village. She fights Chu Shuzhi, and Lin Jing has to sedate her. Zhao Yunlan tells Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi that they can't trust Zhu Jiu.



Quote
Shen Wei: Are you even listening to me?
Zhao Yunlan: I only want to hear you tell the truth.

Detail
Presumably Zhao Yunlan is already wearing protective earplugs when he apprehends Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi on his own.

Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 12? How is Zhao Yunlan hoping that the conversation in Shen Wei's office will go? Does Sang Zan have any other booby traps set up around the SID (and how many times has Guo Changcheng set them off)? Did Shen Wei put himself in a trance/stasis during Lin Jing's experiment? Any theories about what happened to Tan Xiao's sister? What's with all the drugging??

Poll #34277 Episide 12, part 1
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8


How many times has Guo Changcheng zapped himself unconscious before?

View Answers

once
0 (0.0%)

a couple of times
1 (12.5%)

truly an alarming number of times
5 (62.5%)

Lin Jing is ~this close~ to confiscating the baton
2 (25.0%)

Chu Shuzhi bought a portable defibrillator to take to training practice
4 (50.0%)

other
0 (0.0%)

Does Shen Wei expect Zhao Yunlan to take him literally when he says, "To be honest, I'm just a normal person who happens to be unlucky"?

View Answers

yes, he's determined to stuff the cat back into the bag
2 (25.0%)

he doesn't *expect*, exactly; but he hopes!
4 (50.0%)

no, he's implicitly asking Zhao Yunlan to play along
4 (50.0%)

other
1 (12.5%)

Why does Shen Wei volunteer to be a test subject?

View Answers

he thinks he can fake a human field of consciousness
4 (50.0%)

he's no longer really hiding his identity; he just doesn't want to admit the truth in so many words
3 (37.5%)

other
1 (12.5%)



Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?

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

And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!

vital functions

Feb. 22nd, 2026 10:15 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Reading. Finished The Rose Field (Pullman)!!! I am Making Arrangements for it to Leave My House. Read more... )

ANYWAY. I finished it. It Is Done.

Then read the first few pages of Dead Hand Rule (Gladstone; latest in the Craft Wars) before deciding that actually I need to reread at least the end of Wicked Problems in order to remember what's going on...

Writing. Progress continues both glacial and extant.

Listening. My relisten-while-actually-awake of the first chunk of The Hidden Almanac continues, slowly.

Playing. We have finished an Exploders run on Hard in Inkulinati. I am contemplating, given how smoothly that went, whether I want to have a try at Very Hard...

Cooking. It's not quite "this week's breakfast dal, and a loaf of bread", but it does sort of feel like it was. Partly because for reasons we did not get our usual box of veg on Monday last week, which meant that we were scrabbling around using up Shelf Things and the occasional Supermarket Discount Item...

NO WAIT, I also DID make buckwheat pancakes, and inspired by [personal profile] lnr combined Tinned Pear and Stem Ginger with Vanilla Essence and also Ground Cardamom to go in same. V good. Will repeat.

Eating. My mother acquired for us, as A Special Treat, a variety of Baked Goods from The Fancy Bakery In Eddington: my favourite is still the fig-and-?ricotta, but the blueberry-and-?ricotta is also very good, as is the fougasse. A was extremely pleased with the pain aux raisins. AND my mother made some excellent baba ganoush, eaten with said fougasse.

This week also feat. rainbow bagels (which we got to watch some of the manufacturing process for!) as well as misc other foodstuffs from Shalom Hot Beigels.

A has some coffee and butterscotch cake (leftovers from a test bake!) from Flour Arrangements; alas by the time I got my act together to actually collect Excess Test Cake the apple pie and lemon had both all gone...

Exploring. I got to spend a little time in the City of London Cemetery, which is currently ablaze with (among other things) purple crocuses; we also (on our second attempt) managed to go on A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey (with thanks to [personal profile] aldabra for reminding me that it is That Time Of Year still!). Snowdrops excellent. May or may not get around to sharing some photos. (Our first attempt at A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey Abbey wound up mutating into a poke around the back of Churchill and Astronomy to peer at bulbs and other plants misc, which was also very enjoyable even if I did once again fail to take A to see the Barbara Hepworth.)

Growing. ... I bought a bag of snowdrops In The Green at Anglesey, to go into the ground around the cherry tree at the allotment? The lemongrass seedlings haven't all died?

Mid-February reading roundup

Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:40 pm
atamascolily: (Default)
[personal profile] atamascolily
Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines - standalone urban fantasy about 3 veterans of various magical scuffles who have settled down and moved in together (platonically) only to be drawn into a fresh new conflict with the fate of the world in the balance. Fun, but not especially memorable; I liked this better than Hines's earlier Ex Libris series, where I only read the first two volumes.

What Stalks the Deep (Sworn Soldier #3) by T. Kingfisher - Novella following our nonbinary hero from a fictional eastern European country with an abundance of pronouns to America, where they confront eldritch horrors in an abandoned West Virginia coal mine. I saw a lot of twists coming, but the vibes are great, and the worldbuilding was fun.

Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (Wayward Children #????) by Seanan McGuire - I've kind of lost count of where we are at this point, but I enjoyed learning more about the Halls, and how we appear to be building towards a larger plot re: the doors' agenda. Also, I love pomegranates and moths, and the statues' aesthetic is great, as is its origins in "playing freeze tag so the horrors can't get you".

Emily of New Moon by LM Montgomery - Similar formula to Anne of Green Gables but even more autobiographical. Emily is not charismatic as Anne, but she's a born writer, which is its own kind of appeal. I'm not thrilled by the "guy old enough to be her father who is heavily and unsubtly foreshadowed as a future love interest" who turns up in the last third or so, even though it's also pretty clear she's going to end up with an artist kid her own age. We'll see how the other two books play out.

Manga:

-Apparently, "cute cottagecore fantasy witch" is its own subgenre these days - what surprised me the most about Aria of the Beech Forest is that the second chapter takes an abrupt turn by revealing the story is actually set in modern-day Ireland, which I was not expecting, hahaha. 3 volumes, complete, I read this mostly because it was on the library shelves.

-The Failure at God School's story is by the same person who did The Apothecary Diaries (which I loved) but unfortunately the first volume of this doesn't rise above "spunky girl gets sent to magic boarding school and turns out to be the most powerful of all" formula - no surprises here.

-Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You volume 4 introduces a few new characters and fleshes out the supporting cast, which is good because the leads' relationship is stuck in stasis (which they acknowledge) because they're scared of change. Considering how many more volumes have already been published, it's going to be a long road.

Keep an eye on your inbox!

Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:54 pm
[personal profile] fthmods posting in [community profile] fandomtrumpshate

We have started posting auctions, which means that we have started sending emails with your auction link and the link to submit edits!

Please keep in mind:

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Please remember that just because your post is up for your viewing, does NOT mean that browsing is open in general! Please don't send bidders to check things out until Friday, Feb 27!


starandrea: (Default)
[personal profile] starandrea
Maybe I could make a handwritten Chinese zine that I record myself reading aloud to a bunch of seeds.

This is gonna be my day. Or I'll take a nap. Still hard to say which way it will go.

Also I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of Daphne in a year. I just spent an hour looking at photos, so I can't make up for it now short of sharing my entire library. But here's a particularly funny sequence from last spring, when her friends came to the back door looking for her.

Daphne and friends )

Right now everything is covered in snow and ice, except the back patio, so that's nice. I still go out and sit in my rocking chair and look out over where the gardens will be in the spring, and admire the sparkly beauty of a frozen river.

Luckily the dogs love the frozen river, so now the play groups look more like this.

Daphne and snow )
trobadora: (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan - Hei Pao-gege)
[personal profile] trobadora posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Title: in the darkness with you
Word count: 4,233
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: Mature
Content tags: Blind Zhao Yunlan, First time, Hand-Feeding, Finger-Sucking, Clothed Sex, Zhao Yunlan's oral fixation, Episode Related, Episode 21, Missing Scene, Blindness Arc

Summary:

Zhao Yunlan woke to the smell of citrus, sweet and strong in the air. Without fully turning his face out of the pillow, he slitted open a sleep-heavy eye - to complete, unchanged darkness. Reality came crashing down like a landslide. Right: still blind.

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